The Devil's AdVODKAte Café
by Ellawritesficssometimes
Summary: Jobless and in desperate need of money, Yuuri applies to become a server at the Devil's AdVODKAte Café. Little did he know that he would fall for his mysterious Russian boss, that of whom is brutally honest, and quite frankly, intimidating! Rated T for Yurio's temper tantrums. (Victuuri Otayuri)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hello! This is my first time crossing fandoms. *gasp*

Anyways, thanks for reading~!

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Yup, this totally just wasn't my day. I looked up at the sky, huffing in annoyance when rain splattered onto the lens of my glasses. It rained quite often in Detroit, but with my awful luck it only poured whenever I was outside. Bad things always happen to me, you see. I'm what most people would call a failure. Exhibit A: I've already forgotten to properly introduce myself.

Hi! The name's Yuuri Katsuki. I'm a 23-year-old college drop out currently in need of a job. I have messy black hair, brown eyes, and if I'm in shape (which I'm not), I have a pretty 'decent' figure. Which brings me to my next point. Why I dropped out of University. Oh boy, here we go.

I left my family in Japan when I was only eighteen. I had big dreams to achieve in the realm of figure skating, after all. Both my grades and skills on the ice were good enough to get me a scholarship at the University, and it was there that I took part in the figure skating team and majored in Communications. I know, I know. An introvert like me majoring in Communications? Talk about paradoxical, huh?

Well, you can only imagine how that turned out. I have always been a very anxious person. What's more, I can also be really competitive. On the figure skating team, I was coached under Celestino Cialdini, a stern, slightly intimidating Italian man. My dormmate and best friend, Phichit, a bubbly Thai exchange student, was also part of the figure skating team.

I grew close with Phichit, but not even our strong friendship was enough to prevent me from internally imploding under all the pressure. Nationals came and went, and as always, I choked right before my performance. Figure skating is not only physical stamina, it requires a sort of mental solitude, that of which I lack entirely.

I couldn't handle the disappointment of defeat, as I knew that I could have performed much better had I just composed myself with confidence. I've always been lacking in self-esteem, and well, the loss at Nationals ate away at my motivation. I didn't enjoy figure skating anymore after that. And so, I retired from the figure skating team, choosing instead to focus on my studies.

Predictably, my anxiety pestered on, and my grades ended up slipping as well. I wasn't even interested in Communications and had no idea what I wanted to do in life. I was terrified to go back home to Japan, as in my silly mind, that would mean another defeat. My parents have always been supportive of me, and I love them dearly, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could make it on my own in life.

I switched majors close to five times before I finally decided that University wasn't for me. The idea of sitting at a desk, closed and secluded for nine hours at a time wasn't appealing to me at all. I loved open space, and before, skating used to be the escape where I could let my mind run wild.

Now, instead of skating on ice, I roamed free on the streets of Detroit, clumsily moving from job to job. I hadn't been able to keep a job for more than two months. I worked mostly in the restaurant/ food industry, and being the clumsy, easily-flustered dork that I am, I tended to drop a lot of things, get orders wrong, and stammer a lot. I'll pause this story right now to give you a proper moment to cringe at my awkwardness.

All better now? Alright, moving on.

I had worked in a lot of strange places. My last job hadn't been in the food industry, actually. My friend, Minako, who also lived in the same apartment building as me, had offered me a job teaching toddlers simple ballet steps. Naturally, as I wouldn't put it past myself, I grew bored of the job and quit only two days ago.

Minako and I are still good friends, however. We didn't end on bad terms if that's what you're wondering. In fact, she had been the one to text me about this café downtown that was looking for new servers. It was called the 'Devils AdVODKAte Café', which if you ask me, is already a major turn off for potential hirees. It doesn't give me a very friendly vibe. But once again, I'll repeat myself: I am an easily flustered person. I am literally scared of anything that moves and speaks too loudly.

I pulled out my phone from my rain coat, checking the address of the café one last time. I read the map on the screen, turning to my right to spot the café on the other end of the street. The sign of the café was decorated with glowing red neon letters. The brick building looked rustic, but also charming at the same time.

I found myself entranced as I crossed over to the other side of the street, craning my neck to spot the devil tail design that curled under the café's front sign. I shook my head, freeing myself of these thoughts as I pulled open the glass door, flinching slightly when the new customer bell chimed above me.

The café was much cozier than I had expected it to be. It consisted of several circular tables and booths that all had crimson red padding. The wooden floor was shiny enough to unfog my glasses, after all. I blushed a little when the customers in the café spared me the odd glance.

I was soaking wet from the rain, dripping in fact, and held a crumpled, half-wet resume in my hand. I gulped, making my way towards the front counter. I peaked at customers through the corners of my eyes, knitting my brows in confusion when I saw what they were drinking. Each customer had a shot of alcohol, most likely vodka given the name of the café, next to whatever baked treat that they had purchased. How odd.

"WOOOF!"

"ACK!" I screamed, scrambling out of the way as a giant brown poodle sprinted towards me. The poodle turned and skidded against the floor, plopping down to sit on all fours before my feet.

"N-nice doggie," I stammered, hesitantly holding out a hand for it to sniff. The dog licked my hand, his bushy tail wagging and thumping against the ground at a speed that easily matched my racing heartrate.

"MAKKACHIN!" a deep voice bellowed. I turned back to spot a grumpy, balding old man with a permanent scowl on his face. What little hair that the man did have was shoulder-length and slicked back with gel. He was sitting in a booth to my far right, a newspaper resting on the table before him.

"Where are your manners? Dumb mutt!" he growled. "You're not supposed to attack the customers!"

"Um…well…" I chuckled nervously, raising a hand to bashfully rub at the back of my neck. "He wasn't exactly attacking me…"

I trailed off when the man spared me a look that was cold enough to kill. Come to think of it, his accent did sound to be Russian. Ahem, not that Russian's are cold or anything! Just a little scary, that's all!

The man ignored me, making a shooing motion at the now whining poodle. "Go back to Viktor and stay out of sight!"

 **RUSTLE!**

The man grumbled, aggressively pulling open his newspaper to read from it again.

Makkachin made a yipping sound before scrambling out of sight, presumably into the back room where 'Viktor' was.

I sighed, smiling in thanks to the man despite being ignored again. Ah, well figures. I wasn't that relevant or noticeable anyways.

With no more obstacles in my path, I headed for the front counter again, my eyes widening at the sight of all the colourful food items that were set on display. There were muffins, macarons, cookies, eclairs, danishes, and just about every other baked treat that you could imagine. You could tell that a lot of love and craft had been put into the making of them. The binge-eater in me wanted to devour them all, so much so that I had begun to drool at the corners of my mouth.

"Hello! Are you there?! Tsk! What an idiot!"

I blinked in disorientation when a small pale hand was frantically waved back and forth in front of my face.

"O-oh! I'm sorry!" I apologized. I was so lost in admiring the baked treats that I had forgotten that I had stopped to stand at the front counter. "Is there where you apply for the new server's position?"

I looked up to meet the stern gaze of the boy standing behind the front counter. He appeared to be about fifteen years old, but with the frown on his face, he reminded me more of an old man. He had blue-green eyes, ones that were currently burning right through my weak soul, and blond hair that covered half of his face. He was also wearing a white t-shirt, black pants, and a black waiter's apron to fit around his thinly-framed body.

"Yeah," he scowled, wrinkling his nose at me sourly. This boy also had a Russian accent. "What about it?"

I smiled weakly at him, placing my crumpled resume onto the counter for him to look at. "I'd like to apply here."

"HA!" the boy barked with laughter. "I'm not the one hiring! It's Viktor that you're supposed to ask for!"

"Oh…well… I didn't know that."

The boy sighed, bending over to point at the sign that was taped onto the side of the counter. It read: ' _Want to apply here? Ask for Viktor!_ '

I blushed. I had half the mind to curl up into the fetal position and roll my sorry butt out of the café. But, I was already here and needed this job really badly. I had been eating straight ramen noodles for the past two weeks. I needed this job, and no matter how much that I wanted to succumb to my embarrassment and hide from the harsh world outside, I had no choice but to put up with the awkwardness of this first encounter.

The boy tsked under his breath. "Stupid Piggie."

"E-excuse me?" I spluttered.

"Keh! Are you telling me that you can't read?!"

"No, no. I saw the sign. I'm sorry…but did you just call me Piggie?"

The boy smirked. "Aw, is the little Piggie sensitive about his weight?"

"You are being a bit rude," I admitted. Okay, so maybe after quitting figure skating I had put on a few extra pounds. I gained weight easily, alright?! I thought that my baggy jacket and jeans would hide that, but apparently not.

"C'mere," the boy gestured for me to lean closer to him.

"Um…" I faltered.

"Just do it!"

The boy darkened his glare, causing me to gulp and lean closer.

 **THUD!**

My vision blacked out when his forehead collided with mine in a fierce headbutt. "THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE YURI IN THIS CAFÉ, AND THAT'S ME!" he fumed, exploding in anger for reasons explicable as he crumpled my resume in his hand, tossing it into a nearby garbage can.

I brought a hand to my sore forehead, looking up at the boy's furious expression. "Your name's Yuri too?"

"HELL YEAH IT IS! ALSO, WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?! JUST LEAVE ALREADY! WE DON'T ACCEPT DUMB PEOPLE WHO CAN'T READ!"

I took a step back, averting my gaze to the ground. Well this encounter had certainly escalated quickly.

"Yurrrrrrrrrrri," a newer, much calmer voice purred. "What did I say about yelling at the customers?"

"He's not a customer!" Yuri snapped.

A tall man with grey hair and bangs on the left side of his face walked over to stand behind the boy, whose name was apparently also Yuri. He had blue eyes and was also slender in frame despite the sharp muscle tones of his body. He looked to be about 25 (maybe older) if I had to guess, and was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, as well as a pair of faded denim jeans.

"Hello!" the new man beamed at me, his eyes twinkling with a childish light as he wrapped a causal arm around a fuming Yuri's shoulders. "Welcome to my café! Are you here to apply for our new server's position?"

I mutely nodded my head at the much taller man. It appeared that all the workers here were Russian.

Yuri struggled to free himself from the man's grip. "Get off me, you jerk!" he roared.

The man beamed, reaching into his pocket to pull out a kitty ears headband. "Aw~! Why so grumpy, little one?" he moped, placing the headband onto Yuri's writhing head. "There, now you look much cuter~!"

Yuri stopped struggling, crossing his arms again. "I suppose…that I would be okay with wearing this," he grumbled, his cheeks flushing a faint pink.

"Good! Now why don't you do your job and serve the customers, da?" the man smiled, but something about his eyes told me that this wasn't a suggestion, but rather a demand.

Yuri grumbled, stepping out from behind the front counter to glide against the main wooden floor of the café. I hadn't realized that he had been wearing roller skates until now. "This isn't over, Piggie," he said, sparing me one last deadly glance before finally gliding away.

I bit my lip to stifle my laughter. For a punk, Yuri skated quite gracefully. His body was thin and lithe enough to remind me of a fairy, as odd as that sounds.

"So!" the man slapped a hand against the front counter, causing me to flinch, albeit involuntarily. "My name's Viktor! I'm the manager of the café!"

I reached out my hand to shake hands with him. "Yuuri Katsuki, it's a pleasure to meet you," I said, struggling to keep my voice at an even tone.

"I…um…had a resume to give, but…that kid kind of threw it into the trashcan…"

Viktor chuckled lightly, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. "Say no more. Little Yuri is probably just jealous that you guys have the same name! What are the odds anyways?"

I reciprocated his chuckle just to humour him. "Pretty low, I'll bet. Is he your little brother?"

Viktor shook his head, an amused expression creeping onto his face. "Dear me, no. I give him roller skating lessons, and in return he works for me here. I'm friends with his grandfather."

"Ah," I remarked. "Well, I should come back tomorrow. I'll have a new resume ready for you then. It was nice meeting you!"

I turned around to leave, only to stop when a large hand gently grabbed onto my wrist. "No! No! That won't be necessary! I never really look at the resumes anyways. I can usually tell by one glance if a person is fit to work this job or not. Say, do you have any experience in the food industry?" Viktor asked.

I blushed a little from the contact. Viktor, thankfully, was oblivious to this as he let go of my hand.

"Yes, I've worked for a few bars and restaurants, but never a café," I admitted. "But! I have references if you w-want," I gulped, already feeling myself cave under Viktor's analytical stare. I felt like he was seeing right through me. It didn't help that he was a very attractive man to begin with. Ack! Focus Yuuri! Now is so not the time to be checking out your potential future boss!

Viktor pursed his lips. "Hmmm. I can't be bothered to check out references. It takes too much time. Tell you what, I'll just take your word for it. I feel like I can trust you. It appears that Yakov likes you too."

I followed Viktor's gaze to spot the old man from earlier. Still scowling and terrifying as ever, I see.

"He doesn't look very happy," I said, feeling clammy all of a sudden.

Viktor slapped his hand against the counter again, causing me to flinch…again. My God, I can be such a dork sometimes.

"Don't worry!" Viktor reassured me. "Yakov's actually a very kind man. He likes hugs very much. I mean, sometimes he swears at me when I do that, but I've always found this to be part of his charm. It's quite adorable~!"

"Oh! I should also mention that he co-owns this café with me~!"

I paled after hearing that. "How wonderful!" I squeaked.

"I know, right? I love working here!" Viktor beamed, who I had now learned was completely oblivious to sarcasm.

Let me see here: One grumpy boss + a cheerful, attractive boss + a coworker who absolutely hated my guts = one hell of a scary work environment. Ah, but here's the thing. I wasn't brave enough to back out now. I was already in too deep at this point.

"Come! I'd like to show you something," Viktor cooed, shuffling sideways to stand before the café's front glass display of baked treats.

I followed him parallel to the other side of the counter. Viktor bent down to pick up a cherry Danish with a pair of silver trongs. "What's this?" he asked.

"Um…a danish?"

Viktor shook his head. "Perhaps I'm not making myself clear. Does anything about this pastry speak to you?"

I gave Viktor a blank look, causing him to smirk. "Here," he said, breaking off a piece for me to eat. "Have a taste and tell me what you think."

I took the piece from him and popped it into my mouth, savouring the sweetness of the cherry jelly. The pastry come apart cleanly, melting on contact with my tongue.

"Mhhhmm. It's really good," I commended him, and oh so brilliantly at that.

"What do you think the main ingredient is?"

"Cherries?" I said, immediately regretting ever opening my mouth.

Viktor flashed me with another one of his blinding smiles. "No silly! It's love~! Or eros as I like to call it," he gushed. "Here at the Devil's AdVODKAte café we strive to constantly surprise our customers with new flavour combinations every day! We experiment with the flavours that tickle at your heart strings, the ones that bring out the romantic side within you!"

"What does vodka have anything to do with that?" I asked, sparing a glance at a red-faced customer who had just finished the remains of their shot class.

Viktor leaned over the counter, his face only mere inches from mine, so close in fact that I could feel his warm breath blow against my nose. "The alcohol is to loosen people up," he hummed with a purr. "How can one be romantic if they're too afraid to act upon their greatest desires?"

"I…I guess I see your point," I muttered, discretely pulling myself away from Viktor's ogling face.

Viktor sighed, finally taking the hint and pulling away himself. "Running this café is like a dream come true," he mused. "I live to keep people on their toes. Speaking of toes, are you able to use roller skates?"

Call it a hunch, but something tells me that this guy is extremely airheaded and forgetful.

I weakly nodded my head. My tongue was being difficult and refused to unknot itself, unfortunately.

"Great!" Viktor clapped his hands together. "Let's see you skate then!"

"Oh, no! I couldn't possibly…" Viktor's excitement easily drowned out my protests.

Viktor hurried back over to the cash register, bending down to pull out a pair of white roller skates with gold trimmings on the bottom. "Here you go!" he trilled, holding out the roller skates over the counter for me to take.

I gulped, taking the roller skates from him without much of a choice over the matter. I walked over to a nearby table to sit down and put them on. Viktor trotted after me like a ditsy, excited puppy, which was weird given his tall, overbearing height. He sat down next to me, watching my every move like a hawk.

Once done with tying up the roller skate's laces, I stood up, effortlessly gliding around the café for Viktor to see. It was nerve wracking to be 'skating' again, and despite the stares that the customers were giving me, I felt free. I hadn't realized how much I had missed skating until now. The nostalgia of doing this again almost brought tears to my eyes.

I stopped skating when Viktor stood up from his seat and began to clap loudly. "Bravo!" he praised.

I skated over to him, wobbling to a stop out of pure nervousness. The roller skates were a bit too big for me anyhow. "I wasn't expecting you to be so good!" Viktor exclaimed.

Wow, okay. Way to have some faith in me, big guy.

My nervousness grew when Viktor strode over to meet me, reaching over to fondly pat my shoulder. "Hmmm," he murmured, using a giant hand to sweep back the fringe from my face. "That's better. I can actually see your chubby chipmunk face now!"

I was too busy blushing to realize that he had just insulted me.

"So, does this mean that y-you'll hire me?" I asked.

Viktor brought a hand to his chin, pursing his lips in concentration. "Get rid of the glasses. They don't flatter your eyes. It wouldn't help to lose ten pounds either. Other than those minor setbacks, you seem great! We'd love to have you working here! Isn't that right now, Yakov?"

"It's too early in the morning for me to deal with your childish games, Vitya. At least let me finish my coffee first," Yakov bitterly snapped back in retort.

"See!" Viktor cooed, turning back to face me. "He loves you~!"

I, on the other hand, was still shell-shocked by Viktor's brutal honesty. He was much blunter than I had expected him to be.

"So, what do you say? Would you like the job?"

Viktor held out his hand for me to shake. I don't know why, but something about him instilled a sense of motivation in me that I had never felt before. I wanted to earn his approval, and it was for this exact reason that I took Viktor's hand and shook it.

"Yes sir!"

I would prove to Viktor that I was capable. More than that, I would prove to myself that I was useful…

That I was more memorable than what meets the eye.

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 **So, should I continue this? :)**

 **If the responses are good, I'll get working on chapter 2!**

 **Update December 31rst: Holy shit, wow, okay. I'm definitely continuing this! Your reviews, follows, and favourites give me the motivation to write quicker! thanks so much :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** : *Faints* Oh dear lord, thank you guys so much. I may or may not have squealed when I saw some of my Hetalia readers here xD

Enjoy~!

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I had shown up at the café early the next day just like Viktor had asked me to. It was six in the morning, so the sun hadn't even risen yet. I was currently standing outside, shivering in my track suit. I never came to work in clothes that weren't comfy. Why bother if you were just going to be given a uniform anyways, am I right?

I blinked harshly, trying to smooth out the bubbles in my contact lenses. Gosh, I wasn't used to these things, and if anything, they just made my eyes dryer than ever. To test my vision, I attempted to read the name of the shop across the street.

The sign consisted of a giant lavender donut with green sprinkles that spelled out…just give me a second here. * _Squints eyes rather harshly to the point where they're almost blind_ * Ah, much better. From what I could see, the sign read: 'Icing King's Donuts.' A sign plastered on the window underneath had a slogan that said: 'J-J style or go home' on it. How odd. Oh well, I suppose that it would be helpful to know who my competition would be if I was to work at this café.

"Oi! Piggie!" A familiar angry voice screeched behind me.

I gulped nervously and turned around to face a glaring Yuri. He had his hair tied up into a pony tail with a French braid woven on the left-hand side of his head. He was also wearing a track suit, that of which was much nicer than mine. Underneath, his outfit consisted of black pants and a hoodie, and on top, he was wearing a zip-up baseball-styled jacket with white outlined block letters that spelled Russia across his chest.

"Hey…Yuri," I said, forcing a plastic ' _keep your cool and maybe he won't gut you like a_ fish' smile onto my face. "Did Viktor call you in this early too?"

"No, I'm just here on my own free will. I like watching the sunset because I'm a kumbaya ' _make peace'_ hipster."

 _Good morning to you too…_

"Haha, that's sarcasm, right?" I said, raising a hand to rub the back of my neck.

"No shit, pork chops!" Yuri snapped, crossing his arms. "Viktor promised to give me a skating lesson before the café opened for the day."

"Oh," I faltered. "If I may ask, when does the café open?"

Yuri shrugged. "Ten."

"THEN WHY THE HECK AM I HERE SO EARLY?!" I spluttered.

Yuri shrugged, picking at his nails. "If I had to guess, the airhead probably wants to whip you into shape."

I didn't have much time to process that information.

The café door opened with a jolly chime, and on cue, Viktor poked his beaming face out into the cool morning air. "Good morning!" he trilled, his blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "Oh, Yuri, what are you doing here? You don't start until eleven."

Thankfully, Viktor was looking directly at Yuri, so we didn't have to guess as to whom he was referring to.

"You promised me a skating lesson, you jackass! Unless you forgot about it… AGAIN!" Yuri fumed, his nose scrunching up with frustration. The way that his chest puffed up reminded me of a blow fish. So small, and yet so angry…

Viktor laughed, stepping out of the café and shutting the door behind him. He was wearing a white and red runner jacket with a matching pair of track pants. Across his chest, two bold red letters spelled out "RU", presumably short for Russia.

"My, my," Viktor mused. "You must not be that relevant to me, after all. I always seem to forget about you don't I, little kitten?"

Viktor reached over to fondly pat Yuri's head, messing up his braid in the process.

"Don't touch me!" Yuri roared. "And stop treating me like I'm your pet, damn it! I'm a grown boy! It's about time that you treated me like one!"

Viktor pouted, opting to pinch Yuri's cheeks instead. "The kiddie fat on your cheeks tells me otherwise~!"

If Yuri was a cat, the shackles on his back would be standing up. "Are you going to give me a lesson or not?!"

Viktor let go of Yuri's cheeks, turning his head to spot me standing with an awkward look on my face. "How convenient!" he exclaimed. "You're already in a track suit!"

I nodded my head. "Yes…well…I-"

"HELLO?!" Yuri waved a hand in front of Viktor's face, struggling to meet the much taller height of the latter. "ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME?!"

Viktor placed a hand on Yuri's forehead, preventing the writhing teenager from attacking him. "I liked you better when you were younger. You were much quieter back then. What ever happened to the little boy who would dress up as a cat and perform adorable skits for me?"

Yuri's face reddened indefinitely, too embarrassed to say anything.

Satisfied with this reaction, Viktor diverted his attention back to me. "I called you in this early because I prefer for my workers to be in top shape. We will go for morning runs until you become a healthy weight again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Is this every morning, or just the days that I'm scheduled to work?" I asked, feeling my face redden with a new wave of self-consciousness.

"Every morning," Viktor answered without hesitation, his expression becoming serious despite the fact that he was still holding back a panting Yuri. "I know your address now because of your resume. On the days that you're not working, I will wait outside your apartment building. I expect you to be ready at six AM sharp every day."

"Okay…" I furrowed my brows. This guy was turning out to be extraordinarily creepy. "I suppose that's reasonable," I lied.

Viktor grinned from ear to ear. "Great! I'm glad that you understand. It's a shame that I won't get to see your cute chubby chipmunk face anymore, but health should always come first!"

I deadpanned. He was acting as if I was these obese monstrosity, when all in all, I was maybe ten pounds overweight. No matter, I had been wanting to get back into a shape for a while now. It wasn't Viktor's insistence that was motivating me to go on this morning run. It was of my own free will.

Viktor let go of Yuri's forehead, dancing out of the way as the fuming teenager surged forward to tackle him, only to grasp at mere air.

"Will you be joining us, kitten?" Viktor asked, jogging on the spot.

Yuri kicked open the café's front door and threw his gym bag onto the floor. "I'll come, but only because I have nothing better to do!" he snapped, locking the door from the inside before shutting it again.

Viktor smirked, gesturing us forward with his arm. "Well, let's get a move on then! I don't have all morning!"

…

Twenty minutes later and I had already dropped my lungs two blocks back. I lagged far behind Yuri and Viktor, who had a suspiciously high amount of energy this early in the morning. I still forced myself to push forward, refusing to let Yuri's teasing provoke me into lashing out.

Said fairy-like Russian was currently jogging backwards, smirking devilishly as I struggled to keep up with him.

"Little pig, little pig, it's time to give up," Yuri leered, before raising his voice into a higher pitch just to mock me. "Not on the hair of his triple chinny chin chin~!"

I glared at Yuri, urging myself to quicken my jogging pace.

"Then he'll huff, and he'll puff, and he'll blow the entire block down because he's just that big!"

As if those remarks weren't mean enough, Yuri pulled out a chocolate chip cookie from his jacket, waving it in front of my face. "Come on, you know you want it!"

"Tease me all you want," I panted. "I don't anger very easily."

"Ah, so you're a pacifist, Winnie the Poo type of figure," Yuri hummed, taking a large bite out of the cookie for himself. "Gotcha!"

"Yurrrrrrrrrrrri," Viktor sighed, stopping to stand behind Yuri without the latter's noticing.

Yuri jogged right into Viktor's arms.

Viktor rolled his eyes, effortlessly picking up Yuri by the scruff of his jacket. Yuri kicked and screamed, but in the end, there was nothing that he could do but pout and wait until Viktor decided to set him down onto the ground again.

"What did I say about being nicer to your coworkers?" Viktor lectured.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it already. You want me to be a team leader, blah blah blah," Yuri mewled, scowling all the while. I smirked at Yuri's hovering figure. Come to think of it, Viktor's kitten nickname for him was surprisingly accurate.

Viktor tsked under his breath, setting Yuri back onto the ground. "I think that's enough training for today. It's time to head back to the café."

Viktor spared me an approving glance. "I like your spirit. Keep up the hard work and you'll be just as skinny and fabulous as me in no time."

"Um…thanks?"

…

There was still a half hour remaining before the café opened for the morning. During this time, Viktor was showing me the ropes of the job. Yuri twirled around the café in his roller skates, mopping the floor. Although, I could still feel the burn of his glare every now and then.

The job seemed simple enough. The coffee machine wasn't too complicated, and the menu wasn't crazy long either. What I in particular found to be interesting was that a vodka shot had been listed as a devilish touch on the menu. Viktor was ecstatic when I had laughed at his 'creative genius'. His words, not mine.

As of now, I was helping Viktor wipe down the front counter. I tried my best to avoid looking at him, because more than often enough, I blushed uncontrollably whenever we established eye contact. His eyes were just that piercing.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" A deep, unfamiliar voice purred behind me.

I turned around to look at the source of this new voice, spotting a tall man step out of the kitchen. He had deep hazel eyes, which were predominantly green. His hair was two-toned and styled in an undercut with the top half being blond, and the bottom, brown. He also had remarkably long lashes, carefully plucked eyebrows, and well-groomed stubble along his jawline. He was wearing an all black outfit that consisted of a t-shirt and a simple pair of denim jeans _, tight_ denim jeans.

"Good morning, Chris," Viktor called over his shoulder. "This is our new server, Yuuri."

"Why hello there!" Chris mused, striding over to stand next to me at the front counter. "Where did you find this one, Viktor? He has a great butt."

"E-Excuse me?!" I spluttered.

"Oh, come now, no need to be so bashful about your looks. There's nothing wrong with embracing your sexual side~!" Chris chided.

"Chris," Viktor sighed, aiming an exasperated look in Chris's direction.

Chris bent over next to me to pull out a white cooking apron from the laundry bin under the counter. After tying the apron around his waist, he held out his hand for me to shake.

"Ah, I better introduce myself properly before _someone_ goes full death glare on me. Christophe Giacometti, Viktor's right hand man and cook at this fine establishment. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Actually, you're my second-best man," Viktor corrected. "Darling Yakov will always be my first~!"

Chris chose to ignore this comment.

I shook hands with Chris, blushing even harder when he brought my hand to his lips and kissed it.

"Y-Yuuri Katsuki! It's also a pleasure!"

Chris let go of my hand to fan his own face. "What an adorable little boy," he swooned. "Uh-oh, Viktor. If you're not careful I might just snatch him up for myself."

Viktor's expression darkened ominously. "There is to be absolutely no fraternizing between employees," he snapped.

Chris simpered, not appearing to be too fazed by Viktor's uncharacteristic sourness. "Whatever," he sighed. "Say, Yuuri, would you like to try a cookie? I just baked a fresh batch this morning and could use an opinion or two."

"Sure," I smiled. "I'd love to."

Chris left for the kitchen, coming back shortly afterwards with a platter full of steaming cookies. "They're toffee chip macadamia nut cookies!" he gushed. "Enjoy~!"

I plucked up a cookie with two fingers, careful not to touch the others while doing so. I wasn't aware that Viktor was watching my every move until the cookie was snatched from my hand.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" Viktor patronized, eating the cookie himself. "You're on a diet right now, remember?"

Chris and I both pouted.

"How can you be so cruel, Viktor?" Chris moped.

"Now, now," Viktor smiled. "No need to fret, my effeminate friend. Your baking still hasn't lost its touch. That's always something to celebrate."

Viktor stuffed another two cookies into his mouth. "You should definitely make another batch of these~! I would like to eat some more…I mean…the customers are sure to like them…"

Chris smirked, grabbing the platter from Viktor before he could wolf down another ten cookies. "Sure thing, boss," he winked. "I'll be right on that."

Chris then took a cookie for himself, sighing in content as he munched on the tasty treat. My mouth watered in jealousy.

"Mmmm. I think I just came," Chris moaned to himself. "These cookies are the absolute bomb."

"Don't take him literally," Viktor whispered into my ear. "He's just joking…or…at least I'd like to think that he is…"

Chris grinned at us one last time before finally disappearing into the kitchen again. "Yuuri, darling, it was _so _ nice chatting with you!" he called over his shoulder. "I look forward to admiring your fine butt some more~!"

I blushed while Viktor brought a hand to his forehead and rolled his eyes. "That man is always so over the top. And that's coming from me," Viktor muttered to himself in disbelief.

"Oh, yes, before I forget." Viktor placed two fingers into his mouth and whistled.

Thirty seconds later, Makkachin came scrambling over, a soggy white uniform clamped between his front jaws.

Viktor draped a casual arm around my shoulders. "I made your uniform extra tight. That way, you'll be motivated to lose weight much faster."

New drinking game: take a devilish shot every time that someone makes a jab at my weight.

You'll be drunk like Minako in no time.

* * *

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 **Okay! So I have two more days before I go back to University, which means that I could write two more chapters ahead of time! Feedback is very much appreciated. I have the general plot for this worked out. I'm open to requests if they fit with the plot though :)**

 **As for pairings so far, I only have Yurio x Otabek set in stone, well, other than Viktor x Yuuri hehe.**

 **I'm so grateful for the support!**


	3. Chapter 3

**5:15 AM**

 **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

"Ugh," I rolled over on my side, slapping a hand over my alarm clock to stop it from ringing. Today was my second day working at the café, and I had no intention of being late. But, I think that I'm just going let myself snooze for another ten minutes. I was wrapped up in my blanket like a warm, slightly chubby, cinnamon roll, and couldn't be bothered to move.

 **6:00 AM**

 **BANG! BANG! BANG!**

I groaned, fluttering my eyes open at the sound of someone pounding their fists against the front door of my apartment.

"YUURI! HEY! WAKEY! WAKEY~! THERE'S A REALLY HOT GUY STANDING OUTSIDE! CARE TO JOIN ME IN MY BOY WATCHING?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion, sitting up from my pillow. What was Minako doing up this early in the morning…morning…MORNING?! Oh my God! I'm going to be late! I was supposed to meet Viktor downstairs at * _checks time_ * right now!

I leapt out of bed, slipping on my tracksuit with trembling fingers. "I'm going to be late! I'm going to be late!" I panicked to myself for no apparent reason. Then again, when was anxiety ever rational?

Minako's voice took on a far angrier tone. The woman had very little patience for tardiness, after all.

"WHY AREN'T YOU ANSWERING YOUR DOOR?! DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!"

I rushed into the bathroom, brushing my teeth so fast that my gums were sore afterwards. I then made a last-minute decision to hastily slick back my hair with some gel. Viktor said that I have nice eyes, and well, maybe it wouldn't hurt to listen to his advice. I felt my face heat up, but I didn't have much time to think about it as I still had a volatile friend/neighbor to answer to.

"YUURI!" Minako shrieked. "IF YOU'RE NOT OUT HERE IN-!"

I pulled open my front door, clumsily slipping on my running shoes. "Morning!" I trilled, despite gulping nervously.

Minako was a tall, slender woman with long brown hair, that of which was normally tied up in a half-up, half-down hairstyle. As of now, her hair was currently thrown together in a messy bun. The dark circles under her eyes and the baggy sweats that she was wearing told me that she had just woken up.

I smirked upon recognizing the familiar paleness of her expression. She must have been up late drinking last night. On top of owning a ballet studio, Minako used to run her own bar as well. Said bar ran out of business, most likely due to her overly consumptive drinking habits. Heh, I'm just kidding. Although, nowadays she did take up the odd bartending job at night.

Minako's grey eyes scanned me up and down, her lips pursed in concentration. I looked everywhere but her eyes, impatiently bouncing on the balls of my feet.

"Who are you?!" she raged. "Since when do you wear contact lenses? And why is your hair slicked back? You like a douchey hockey player."

"It's part of my new workplace's dress code," I answered, slinging my gym/work bag over my shoulder.

"Hmmm," Minako hummed. "Is that where you're heading off to?" she asked.

I nodded my head. "Yup! My boss and I go for morning runs now! He wants all of his employees to be in top shape!"

I faltered, woefully recognizing my fatal mistake when it was already too late.

"Wait?! So that guy's your boss?"

"What guy?" I questioned.

"HAVEN'T YOU BEEN LISTENING TO ME?! THERE'S A SUPER HOT GUY STANDING OUTSIDE OUR APARTMENT BUILDING RIGHT NOW!" 

"WHAT?!" I exploded, my panicked reaction answering her previous question.

I wanted to bury myself in a hole and die, the cringe was just that strong. What if Viktor fired me for showing up late? No! I couldn't let that happen. I needed this job, gosh darn it!

"Yeah! He came with this really cute dog too… Huh…" Minako paused to collect her thoughts. "Top shape…top shape…"

While Minako murmured to herself out loud, I stepped out of my apartment, locking the door behind me. So far, so good. She hasn't noticed anything…yet…

I froze when Minako spoke the few words that I had been dreading this entire time.

"What the heck? How much weight did you gain in the last two weeks to have your boss run you like a damn guinea pig?!" she asked, which to me sounded more like an accusation.

I nervously fidgeted with my hands. Minako was well-aware of my binge-eating habits, and since she was a very high disciplined vegan, any excuses of mine would therefore fall on selectively deaf ears.

"Can't we talk about this later?" I whined. "I'm already running late as it is!"

Minako scowled, and with the prowess of a cobra she struck. "Oi! No changing the subject!" she snapped, lifting my shirt to reveal my protruding belly. Well, there went sucking in my gut.

"Holy crap!" Minako cried out, poking my belly. "You're just like Winnie the Poo! That's a hell of a lot of fat that you've got stored in there. Keh! Are you planning to hibernate and watch Netflix like a lazy bum all winter?"

 _Oh bother…_

I deadpanned. "I'm working on it, okay?! Jeesh, could you be anymore harsh?"

Minako hummed, giving my butt a firm slap. As you can see, she had long mastered the art of selective hearing.

"You better get a move on porky," she commanded. "I'm harsh only because I care about you, boo. I refuse to let my best friend die of a premature heart attack!"

"I feel so loved," I smirked, waving over my shoulder. "Anyways, I'll see you later! Bye!"

"Meet me at my studio when you're done," Minako called back. "That fat ain't going to trim itself!"

"Oh yeah!" Minako shouted again. "Make sure to get that guy's number for me! Why the heck do all the hot guys flock to you anyways?"

I rolled my eyes. That's Minako for you. Taking advantage of our friendship just so that she could have the hope of furthering her non-existent love life.

Go figure.

…

I sprinted out of my apartment building, taking two steps at a time. I found Viktor and his dog sitting on a rock nearby. He was wearing the same tracksuit from yesterday, which made me feel a whole lot better as I hadn't bothered to wash mine either.

"Viktor!" I cried out. "I'm so so so sorry for being late!" I blubbered uncontrollably. "It won't happen again, I promise!"

Viktor stood up, tilting his head to the side just like a curious dog would. "That's okay!" he beamed. "Piggies like you take a lot longer to move, right? I forgive you!"

I staggered over to stand before Viktor's looming figure, bowing my head in apology. "Sorry again!"

 **THUD!**

Viktor patted my head, clearly not realizing his own strength as my knees buckled. "How cute~!" he mused. "I like the way that the morning sun bounces off your hair! I think that I'll call you sunshine from now on, da?"

"Um…sure?" I stammered.

Viktor placed two fingers onto my chin, lifting it up so that our eyes met. "Tell me, sunshine," he purred. "What makes you, you? As your boss, its my job to know everything about my precious underlings!"

"I don't follow," I said, making a point to look away from him. Gosh, our faces were so close to each other that I may very well explode. The sexual tension between us was almost too much to bear. I could feel his warm breath on my face, his nose just mere centimeters from mine. His blue eyes twinkled with excitement, whereas all I wanted to do was to get as far away from him as possible.

"I want to know more about you," Viktor whispered. "What are my chipmunk's favourite hobbies? Does he have a favourite food? Perhaps he even has a girlfriend?"

"NO!" I couldn't stop my hands from shoving Viktor in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards a few steps.

I cupped both hands to my face in horror, my eyes watering in shame. "SORRY!" I burst out. "I didn't mean to lash out at you like that!"

Thankfully, Viktor didn't seem to be fazed by my outburst.

"Ah, so you don't have a girlfriend. Good," he sighed, trailing off ominously. "We should probably get going now."

Since I was still busy looking at the ground, I noticed that his shoelaces were untied.

"DON'T FORGET TO TIE YOUR SHOES!"

Don't ask me why I shouted that. Sometimes my awkwardness just popped out at the most inconvenient of times. If I was at home, I would have screamed into my pillow. As of now, I would just have to settle with biting off my bottom lip. IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT!

Viktor bent down to tie his shoes. His grey hair fell into his face, and for reasons inexplicable I found myself reaching out to touch his hairline. I poked his head, only to scream out of confusion when Viktor deflated and collapsed onto the ground.

"Why must my sunshine be so cruel?" he moped. "Doesn't he know how much I despise my thinning hairline?"

Makkachin whined, plopping down to sit on top of Viktor's now crumpled form.

"OH NO! I BROKE HIM! VIKTOR! VIKTOR?! STAY WITH ME!" I bent over to give his pale cheeks a light slap.

Viktor's eyes fluttered open. "Go on without me, Yuuri. I've lived a decent life, but now I'm too ugly. There's still hope for you. Leave me here and don't you ever turn back."

I rolled my eyes, grabbing Makkachin's collar to pull him off Viktor. "Really now, big guy. Don't you think that you're being a tad bit dramatic?"

Viktor sat up, tiredly rubbing at his eyes. "Is my hair beautiful?" he asked me, sounding much more fragile than I was used to him being.

"Yes, yes. It's fabulous!" I idiotically blabbered.

"ACK!" I cried out when Viktor pulled me into a rib-crushing hug.

"Thank you, sunshine. Your multiple layers of fat warm my heart."

 _Weight Joke Counter (Thus Far): 6_

…

So far, the morning hadn't been too busy. That old man Yakov wasn't supposed to be in until the evening shift, so I didn't have to be worried about being yelled at. The only downside of this job was how exhausting it could be. Skating back and forth really took a toll on the body, even though my stamina was higher than the average person. It didn't help that my uniform was unbearably tight, accentuating my love handles like no tomorrow.

Interestingly enough, the servers at this 'devil' café dressed in white. We were supposed to be personifying angels, after all. Yuri sure looked like an angel with his skinny, elegant body type. I, on the other hand, was more like the fat baby cupid of the bunch. Oh God. Where's the lie?

Speaking of Yuri, said Russian punk was currently leaning against the front counter, taking his break. He had a set of headphones in and was scrolling through Instagram on his phone. Unfortunately, I had to pass by him on my way to the kitchen. Why 'unfortunately', may you be ask?

 **THUD!**

That's why.

Yuri stuck out a roller skate, successfully tripping me in the process. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING FATSO!" he snapped, going back to scrolling through an album of _'kawaii kitten photos'_. I just so happened to see what he had been searching before gracelessly smacking my face against the floor.

"Hnnngh," I groaned, slapping a hand onto the marble counter to help pull myself up.

On cue, Viktor came out of the kitchen, no doubt looking to passive-aggressively destroy what little dignity that I had left.

"What's wrong, little Piggie?" Viktor cooed, draping a casual arm around my neck.

"N-Nothing!" I spluttered.

"Ah, but I see that there are many wrong things with you," Viktor remarked.

"Like what?"

"Well, for one thing, there's clearly something on your mind. When you skate around the café, I don't detect any emotion from you. Why is that?"

"I lack confidence," I admitted, lowering my voice into a whisper. I had always been a nervous wreck whenever it came to skating. And now that I was skating again, although not on the ice, these very same feelings were beginning to resurface.

"So you're self aware!" Viktor giggled. "That's always a good start. It's very important that we find and embrace the eros within you~!"

"Eros," I murmured. "Sexual love."

Viktor's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Exactly! You are the nymph who must seduce the taste buds of the customers. But that can't happen unless you yourself have sexual appeal! Tell me, what person or thing in this world makes you throw caution to the wind? Something you love so much that you abandon all rationality just to obtain it?"

"PORK CUTLET BOWLS!" I shouted, only to cringe so hard that I'm almost sure that I had just suffered from a mini seizure. My face turned beet red. Pork cutlet bowls?! Really!? Yeah, curling up into a ball sounded _real_ nice right now. Although to be fair, wolfing down four of those heavenly bowls in one go wasn't exactly rational…

Viktor was taken aback for a moment. He quickly regained his composure, however, and gave me an encouraging pat to the back.

"Okay! Whatever floats your heavy gut!" Viktor trilled. "Now, imagine the softness of the egg…the tenderness of the meat…I want you to be the sexiest pork cutlet bowl there ever was."

"Got it!" I exclaimed, feeling my chest swell with a newfound wave of confidence.

Viktor laughed. "Feisty! I like it!"

I glided past Yuri, mumbling nonsensically to myself. "Be one with pork cutlet bowl. You're one _sexy_ egg yolk…"

Yuri took an earbud out of his ear, aiming a confused glance at Viktor. "Did the Piggie have his brain fried into bacon?"

I didn't hear Viktor's retort as I was too busy gliding around the café, letting my hips move on their own accord. To amuse the customers further, I did a fancy twirl, spinning and laughing as they cheered me on.

Everything was going swell until I span all the way to other the side of the café, smacking my nose against the window.

"Shake it off!" Viktor cheered. "You're doing awful, but practice makes perfect!"

I peeled my face off the window, leaving a trail of blood behind in my wake.

Yuri snapped a photo of my now bleeding nose, a devious smirk creeping onto his face.

"At least his nose is as flat as a Piggie now," the Russian punk murmured before pulling out his phone to snapchat my failure.

* * *

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **A/N** : You guys have been so awesome thus far, and I know that I sound like a broken robot, but thank you! I'm very short for time because of Uni, but I'll definitely put this story first on top of my others just because of the amazing responses :D Also, thank you to those who PM'd me with suggestions!

Updates from now on will vary on the day. It'll basically be the moment that I finish editing it! Who knows when xD

Next Chapter will include a whole bunch of new characters, so hopefully, you can look forward to that!


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 3 of working at the Devil's AdVODKAte Café:**

I woke up to the sound of pounding on my front door. I buried my face into my pillow, groaning out of frustration. What did Minako want now? The woman had practically worked me like a dog last night by having me participate in an intense ballet work out. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I had shed two pounds just because of it.

I reluctantly got out of bed, incoherently grumbling to myself about how good of a dream that I had been having. I had dreamt of eating an endless amount of pork cutlet bowls without ever getting full. Ah, I'm drooling just by thinking about it.

I opened my door, raising my eyebrows in surprise when I found Viktor and his infamous red and white tracksuit. Said suspiciously cheerful Russian beamed down at me, his blue eyes wide with excitement.

"Good morning, sunshine~!" he beamed, letting himself into my apartment as I simply stood there, shell-shocked.

"V-Viktor," I stammered. "We're not supposed to meet for another half hour. Also…how the heck did you get in here?!"

Viktor chuckled, closing the door behind him. "There was a very nice girl downstairs who let me in! Although, you might want to call a paramedic for her. Her nose started to bleed out of nowhere! Isn't that just _so_ random?"

I deadpanned. Looks like Minako was fangirling again. It was only a matter of time before she called up my sister and gossiped about my new, admittedly attractive boss. Since Minako was also Japanese, she got along quite well with my family. Which was good and all, but it also meant that it was up to her to stalk my every day life. Nothing was worse than having my life failures be broadcasted on a daily basis.

"Yeah, very random," I mumbled, too busy worrying about how this situation was going to pan out with my family. Knowing them, they would probably start preparing for a wedding. I wouldn't put it past Minako to exaggerate the truth about my strictly work relationship with Viktor. It was all my fault, really. I shouldn't have told her that I was attracted to him in the first place.

Viktor sighed, which meant that I had zoned out again. I've always had a bad habit of letting my anxiety get a hold of me. "Yuuriiiiiiiiii," Viktor whined.

"Huh? What?!" I blurted out.

"Your eyes are sparkling," Viktor remarked. "Is there something on your mind?"

 _My mind was on pork cutlet bowls until you so rudely interrupted my dream_ …

I shook my head. "No, I'm just tired. Hey, where's Makkachin?"

It was odd how casual I was acting to Viktor intruding on my apartment. Perhaps this had to do with the fact that I was currently struggling to keep my eyes open.

"Don't worry, my furry friend is back at the café," Viktor mused. "He's probably taking a wonderful nap right now!"

"Uh…okay. You still haven't told me why you came here," I retorted.

Viktor shrugged, walking into my poorly-decorated living room. The only piece of furniture that I owned in there was a worn-down leather couch. As you can see, I was very short on money these days. I rolled my eyes, following after Viktor. There was no point in telling him that he was being rude as he was too oblivious and full of himself to realize it anyways.

After a minute of inspecting my apartment, Viktor turned back to look at me. "I came here because I wanted to get to know you better. After all, a person's home is the window to their soul! Tell me, how does it feel to live such an impoverished life style?"

There goes his bluntness again.

"I get by just fine," I snapped, albeit not sounding remotely intimidating at all. I had never been an angry person to begin with. Some would even say that I had the same temperament as a mewling baby chinchilla.

My words fell on deaf ears as Viktor was now interested in rummaging through the cabinets in my kitchen. I swear, this guy had the attention span of an ADHD fruit fly. "My, my," he tutted. "Now wonder you're so chubby. Surely you must know that ramen noodles are bad for you."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing in disdain. Even though Viktor's face was blurry, as I had yet to put in my contacts, I could tell just by the sound of his voice that he was smirking.

"I don't have much a choice," I just about whined. "My roommate moved out last month and I'm already short on money as it is."

Viktor paused, pursing his lips in concentration.

The next thing that I saw was a blur of grey hair as Viktor rushed over to pull me into a hug, rubbing his cheek against the top of my head. "Oh, you poor, deprived little chipmunk," he simpered. "Remind me if I forget, but one day I'll to invite you over to my apartment. We'll feast on some really yummy food together! It'll be so much fun~!"

From head to toe, my body flushed a bright 'hot and bothered' red. His body was so warm…

"Y-yeah, sure, big guy. Anything that you want," I somehow managed to utter out.

 _As long as you let me breathe first…_

An uncomfortable silence fell between us. I was too busy trying to remember my own name to realize that I had just agreed to going over to his apartment sometime. Regardless, I still had an overly friendly Russian to pry off me.

"Hey Viktor?"

"Hmmm," Viktor hummed, nuzzling his nose into my hair.

"We should probably head out now…"

"Oh! That's right~!" Viktor released me from his arms, the flood of his body warmth disappearing along with him.

Far too flustered for words, I left for my bedroom as I still had to get dressed.

"Don't forget to wear tighter clothes!" Viktor called after me. "That way I can tell how much more weight you need to lose!"

Really now, these weight jokes were getting old. Although, I can't help but wonder: what will happen once I reach my goal weight? Will he find another thing to criticize me about? I gulped, feeling a wave of unwelcomed anxiety swell in my chest. It would be in my best interest to take things one step at a time. Otherwise, I was sure to screw up and make a fool out of myself… _again_ …

…

The café was moderately busy this afternoon. Viktor was in the kitchen chatting with Chris, and Yuri and both had the 'fortune' of being incessantly yelled at by Yakov. Apparently, the old man used to run a figure skating camp in the winter and a roller skating camp in the summer before he retired a few years back. From what I understand, Viktor and Yuri used to be students of his. Regardless, Yakov treated this workplace more like it was arena. The customers, however, didn't appear to be surprised by the yelling and swearing that were exchanged back and forth between the two Russians.

Pardon me if I'm being a bit ride, but Yuri most definitely liked to show off skating abilities. He twirled and danced about the café, the food trays in his hands doing nothing to stop him from leaping into the air whenever he felt like it. Hence the reason why Yakov was currently frothing at the mouth.

"Yuri! Enough prancing about like an uncoordinated buffoon! If you break your ankle, I will _not_ be paying for the hospital bills!"

Yuri ignored Yakov, for the meantime anyway, as he gave his customers their orders. Once he was within gliding distance away, Yuri let Yakov have it right back.

"I'll do whatever the hell I want, you old fart!" Yuri snapped. "Stop pretending like you're my grandfather! I can damn well look after myself!"

Yuri scowled, angrily gliding towards the kitchen to pick up new orders. The kitchen doors slammed shut while Yakov aggressively opened his newspaper, unintentionally ripping it at the seams. "The arrogance of that boy," he angrily muttered to himself. "Such a shame. His confidence takes away from his true potential. He would do best to compose himself better…"

Yakov spotted me ogling at him. "What are you looking at?" he growled.

I gulped. "Nothing!" I squeaked, turning on my heels to glide away from his scrutiny.

Heading into the kitchen sounded like a good idea. When Viktor wasn't looking, Chris was usually able to slip me a treat or two behind his back. I don't know why, but Chris really liked to feed me himself. Actually, never mind. I really don't want to know what goes on in that man's head. I'll accept the treats with ignorance, thank you very much.

I had made it halfway across the café when a pretty, feminine voice called out to me. "Ciao~! Are you the new server here?"

I stopped in place, turning around to meet the strange purple eyes of a tanned girl with long, black hair. She was sitting in a booth with multiple people, all of them ranging in ages from mid-20s to high teens.

I smiled back. "Yeah!" I skated over to their booth, stopping at the side of it. "The name's Yuuri Katsuki, nice to meet you!"

The girl was sandwiched between two boys on side of the booth. The tanned boy on her right also had purple eyes. I assumed that he must have been the girls twin save for his short, brown hair. Said boy looked like he was ready to bite off the head of the other boy on the girl's left, who was sitting on the outskirt of the booth.

The boy on the girl's left was tall, and despite his athletic build he looked like a very warm person. He had light brown hair that was messily overshooting in all directions, blue eyes, and a carefully-groomed stubble-covered chin that accentuated his sharp jawline. Something told me that all this boy ever did was smile and offer free hugs.

To the right, and on the other side of the booth sat two other boys, who appeared to be in their late teens. The boy on the outskirt of the booth had medium-length brown hair that was parted in the middle, brown eyes, and unusually thick eyebrows. He sat with his arms tucked behind his neck, giving me the impression that he had a laid-back sort of temperament.

The boy sitting next to Eyebrows was much smaller and shyer in form. He had a mop of light brown hair, his face adorned with several freckles and a light pink blush. Innocent is the first word that popped into my mind upon looking at him.

The purple-eyed girl flirtatiously winked at me, much to the disgruntlement of the boy on her right. "Sara, it's nice to meet you too!" she beamed, using her manicured finger to point at the other people in the booth. Correct me if I'm wrong, but she seemed to have some sort of Italian accent.

Sara pointed at the fuming brown-haired boy sitting on her right. "This is my twin brother Michele, but everyone calls him Mickey. Don't mind his grumpiness, he's only uptight because he thinks that it's his 'mission' to protect me from other boys."

"Oi!" Michele fumed. "It's not my fault that this world is full of perverts!"

"Not to worry, Mickey!" the boy on Sara's left grinned. He too had some sort of foreign accent. Slavic perhaps? "That's why I'm here! We can protect her together, yes?"

Michele's eyes screamed bloody murder. "You are _exactly_ the type of pervert that I'm trying to protect her from, Emil!"

Emil shrugged, the smile on his face not wavering in the slightest. "I don't see how having a crush on someone makes me perverted," he happily retorted.

"Zip it, smiley Mc dumb fuck!" Michele just about snarled.

Emil's grin only widened, perhaps to knowingly provoke Michele further.

"Eheh," I chuckled nervously, rubbing a hand across the back of my neck. I stood there awkwardly, waiting for Sara to finish her introductions. Unfortunately for me, that didn't happen right away as the friends were too busy bickering with each other.

Michele bent over to 'whisper' into Sara's ear. "I already have enough men to protect you from. Why the hell did you invite this closet perv over here?!" he growled.

"Mickey!" Sara chided. "Be nice. He's new here! You're going to scare him away!"

Michele crossed his arms and pouted. "Well good riddance then!"

The twins then slipped into angry Italian, raising their already loud voices to the point of screaming.

Emil smiled, his head bobbing as he watched the twins banter back and forth. I could tell just by the admiration in his eyes that he absolutely adored Sara. Good luck to him in getting Michele to let him data Sara. Something told me that Michele had an unhealthy fixation with his sister.

Exhibit A: the hair on Michele's head was standing up on its shackles as if he were a rabid guard dog. If you listened closely, you could even hear him growling.

"Ahem," Eyebrows cleared his throat. "If you guys are done resolving your sexual tension, Guang and I would like to introduce ourselves."

Sara, Michele quieted, albeit still glaring 'lovingly' at each other every now and then.

Guang, the shy boy, waved a small hand at me. "Hello!" he squeaked, demurely hugging Eyebrow's chest. "Guang Hong, it's a pleasure to m-meet you!"

Eyebrows chuckled, wrapping an arm around Guang's slightly trembling form. The poor little guy must have had stranger anxiety.

"No need to be so shy," Eyebrows murmured, pulling out his phone from his jeans. "Here, why don't you listen to this new playlist that I made? It'll help calm you down."

Guang accepted an earbud from Eyebrows, closing his eyes in contentment. "Oh Leo," he blushed.

"The music is wonderful! Gosh! You're so cool!" Guang gushed, his doe-like brown eyes wide with awe.

Leo looked up to me, his lips drawn in a nonchalant smirk. "Leo," he nodded his head in acknowledgement. "It's nice to see that the café's changing things up around here. Rumour has it that Viktor was beginning to lose his inspiration. Hopefully you can change that, eh?"

"Um…" I faltered. "That's a lot of pressure, don't you think?" I asked.

Leo shrugged. "Hey man, I'm just trying to make conversation. It won't do you any good if you overthink it. I'm sure that you'll do this job just fine."

The chill tone in which Leo spoke made him sound like some sort of hippie philosopher. Strangely enough, his encouragement did very well to comfort me.

My attention shifted back to the Italian twins when a shriek erupted from their side of the booth.

Emil grabbed a napkin, reaching over to dab at Sara's lips. "Here," he cooed. "Your lip gloss is all smudged."

Sara giggled and puckered her lips in anticipation, only to scowl when Michele slapped Emil's hand away in jealous retaliation.

"Stop molesting my sister, you perverted fiend!"

"Mickey!" Sara groaned. "You can't say things like that out loud! People are going to get the wrong idea!"

"I don't give a damn!" Michele shouted back.

Emil laughed, bending over Sara to spread out his arms. "Aw, is Mickey jealous? Will a hug make you feel better?" he teased.

Michele scooted over to the far end of the bench, even going so far as to press his face against the window. "Get away from me!" he screeched. "I don't want your hugs!"

I looked to Leo, who simply just shook his head and mouthed. " _Just leave them be. They're always like this."_

I took Leo's advice, waved goodbye, and left the feuding table. The last thing that I saw was Michele bomping a fist over Emil's head and calling him a jackass.

I skated behind the front counter, deciding that it would be a good time to take a five-minute break. Yuri was standing next to me, ignoring me and scrolling through his phone as per usual.

 **DING!**

The café's door swung open with the arrival of a young couple. The man was tall, well-built in figure, and strutted about like a peacock; he had a certain swagger to his step. He was wearing sunglasses, ripped denim jeans, and a leather jacket. His black hair was styled in an undercut, which was gelled in a way so that the top half stuck up like ruffled feathers.

A young woman with shoulder-length dark hair and grey-blue eyes clung onto the confident man's left arm like a koala. Her lips were painted a bright red, and judging by her long lashes and thin eyebrows, she must have been wearing a lot of make-up. One stray strand of hair hung in front over her face, obscuring her right eye.

Overall, the couple appeared to be in their early twenties.

Yuri ripped out his earbuds, profusely under his breath. "Not this asshole again!" he cursed.

"Huh?" I asked, and oh so brilliantly.

Yuri's green-blue eyes gleamed with a sharpness that I had never seen before. "Prepare yourself, Piggie," he whispered. "We're about to go to war."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. When the man spoke, it all made sense to me, however.

"Wow!" the man whistled, pulling down his sunglasses to reveal dark blue eyes. "This place has really gone to shit!"

His voice was very deep and gravelly. It was a sound that reminded me of a knife scraping against wood; irritating and unnaturally loud.

The man's girlfriend nodded her head, raising her small nose to the air in disdain. "My God!" she exclaimed. "It smells like a cheap tavern in here!"

"You tell them babe," the man praised, squeezing the koala woman closer to his chest as they walked further into the café.

I gulped. They were heading straight for the front counter. Yuri stomped on my foot, prompting me to mimic his stoic, soldier-like facial expression.

"Yuri, my temperamental dude!" the man called out. "How have you been? My, my! You're no longer hobbit sized anymore! Have you finally gone through puberty?"

Yuri's chest puffed up to match that of a blowfish. Before he could usher his retort, however, the kitchen doors swung open, revealing an emotionless Viktor and a growling Makkachin loyally padding behind him.

Viktor's facial expression darkened, contrasting considerably with his normally jolly attitude. "J-J," he quipped in a sharp tone. "How unpleasant it is to see you."

 **To be continued…**

* * *

I think that the Universe is telling me to write for the YOI fandom. Just before I last edited this, I was doing a textbook reading for one of my Criminology courses. I came across this gem of a quote LOL:

"For the purposes of illustration, consider four separate Greek words: (Agape: sacrificial, altruistic regard eros; erotic, sensual longing; philia; the feeling of brotherly friendship or loyalty…"

 **THANK YOU!** I've been going through some tough times lately, but as I write this - _at the last minute as always smh-_ I'm currently grinning like such a dork xD

Next chapter we move on to actual plot development. Although, I assure you that the comedic relief is here to stay.

-Ella


	5. Chapter 5

Viktor's facial expression darkened, contrasting considerably with his normally jolly attitude. "J-J," he quipped in a sharp tone. "How unpleasant it is to see you."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. J-J? I've heard of that name before…

Viktor's mood matched perfectly with the dark attire that he was wearing. Unlike the other employees, Viktor preferred to wear dark clothing whenever he was working. Perhaps that had something to do with his massive ego and 'fabulous' tendency to hog all the attention. Yup, that was one charismatic Russian all right, save for the few odd moments that he became angry…just like now, actually.

J-J grinned behind his pair of sunglasses, unfazed despite Viktor's 2-3-inch height advantage over him. "Ah well! The weather outside is absolute crap today, so I thought to myself: why not keep up with the pattern and visit the worst café in town?"

Koala woman pouted in overexaggerated disgust, her thin eyebrows raised all the way up to her hairline.

Yuri growled low in his throat. I had half the mind to wrap an arm around his waist to prevent him from leaping over the counter. Then again, I'd rather not be short of a limb. Yeah, I'll just stay out of this one. Maybe if I duck under the counter and curl up into a ball, no one will notice me…

"Keh!" Yuri snapped, crossing his arms. "If you ask me, you're probably just bored because your business has no customers! Fuck you and your shitty peeling donuts!"

Ah! J-J must have been the owner of the donut shop across the street. The rivalry/sexual tension in the room all made sense now. I internally facepalmed. Sexual tension? Really?! Get your head out of the gutter, Yuuri! You've been hanging around Viktor for far too long now! But, is that really such a bad thing…AH! Make it stop! Make it stop!

J-J's eyes widened for a brief moment before composing himself again. "It's the hot temperature, I tell you!" he fumed. "It's not my fault that the icing sticks to the bag!"

"Then get a new recipe, jackass!" Yuri fumed, while Viktor nodded his head in supportive affirmation. It sure was odd how they were working together now of all times.

"You tell him, kitten!" Viktor trilled, unintentionally giving J-J something to latch his claws onto.

"Kitten?" J-J bit his lip, failing to stifle his loud, booming laughter. Koala woman giggled along with him. "Bahaha!"

J-J reached over to ruffle a red-faced Yuri's hair, misplacing his kitty ear headband in the process. "D'aaaaawwwwww!" he teased, turning to glance over at his girlfriend. "Look at how angry he looks, Isabella! Well, if that isn't a grumpy cat if I ever saw one!"

Isabella scoffed. "What a childish little boy! I bet you anything that he still owns a pair of Hello Kitty 'jammies'," she mused.

Yuri finally managed to free himself from J-J's affections with a furious swat of the hand. "What's wrong with Hello Kitty?!" he snapped. "At least I'm not a ratchet hag who wears make up to hide her borderline mediocre face!"

Isabella buried herself under J-J's arm, smirking and yet simpering all the while. I'm just surprised that Yuri hadn't reduced her to the point of tears. She must have had a much stronger backbone than what she led on.

"Don't listen to him, babe," J-J chided. "The squeaky little boy is still adjusting to all the testosterone in him. He's not old enough to appreciate your true beauty."

"Ha! True beauty my ass!" Yuri cackled, only to falter when Viktor grabbed onto his arm.

"You're taking things too far, Yuri," Viktor warned. "You're better than stooping to their level of petty insults."

J-J, whose arrogance clearly led to him having selective hearing, simply chuckled. "That's right Viktor! You better keep those employees of yours in line!"

"Seriously," Isabella scolded. "Is that how he speaks to a customer? How rude!"

Something in Viktor must have snapped. He was angry, oh yes, but he expressed it with a cold form of kindness.

"Ah! But are you a _really_ a customer? Something tells me that you only came here to compensate for your lack of success. You shouldn't act so confident, J-J," Viktor leered with a suspiciously cheerful smile. "One day you're going to choke from running fat your mouth so much~!"

"I don't get it," J-J whispered to Isabella. "Why is he so happy if he's insulting me?"

Isabella shrugged. "Beats me. Let's just leave. This place is lame anyways."

J-J nodded his head. "Agreed."

J-J brought both hands up to the air, forming a faux camera with his fingers to frame Viktor's indifferent and unamused expression. "Click! Now that's the face of a sore loser! Don't you worry, Nikiforov! One day, my business will outshine yours! I may be new to this, but it's only a matter of time before a King like me prevails!"

J-J and Isabella turned on their heels, mockingly waving over their shoulders. "See you ladies later! Oh! And tell that fresh meat standing next to you that if he's ever looking for a better job; we're hiring!"

I watched in both confusion and shock as Isabella and J-J stopped to chat with Sara and her group of friends. It took a mere two seconds before the group began to pack up their things and leave, as they had already paid for their bills earlier. This mass exodus of customers made it obvious that J-J only had two fans in this world, that of whom being himself and his girlfriend.

I turned to look back at Yuri and Viktor, the former of which looked _concerned_ for the other (?!).

"Oi, Viktor," Yuri started awkwardly. "They're gone. Why are you still angry?"

Viktor glared ominously. "I won't let that _boy_ take _my_ sunshine away."

Yuri appeared to be even more confused by this; whereas, I understood Viktor perfectly.

"I'm not going to stop working here, if that's what you're worried about," I reassured.

I blinked out black spots from my vision as Viktor pulled me into a rib-crushing hug.

"Good!" Viktor beamed. "Aw, look at you! When I hug you now, I don't feel as much fat~!"

"Um, thanks?"

Viktor pulled away from the hug, finally letting me breathe. "Let's close the café early today. Kitten, get out the vodka! It's time for us to unwind and enjoy ourselves a little!"

The ultimate dread on Yuri's face spoke enough volumes.

…

Viktor's so-called unwinding had involved hosting a friendly staff get together. Yakov had left almost immediately, grumbling something about how much he despised us 'entitled' millennials.

Although, I have to admit that I was jealous of Yakov for being able to leave. Viktor had cramped us employees all together in one booth. Yuri and the other server Georgi -who was yet another Russian- had been sitting on one end of the booth, whereas I had been sandwiched between Chris and Viktor. You can only imagine how much of a nightmare that situation had been.

Complimentary devilish (vodka) shots were passed around, and it wasn't long before everyone was flat out wasted. I pretended to take the shots, but never actually drank anything. Just like my Dad, I was a loopy sort of drunk. I hugged people like it was my mission and became much too clingy for anyone sober to put up with. I couldn't possibly become drunk around Viktor. Who knew what kind of embarrassing things that I would say! Heck, even when I'm sober, I'm still a nervous ball of cringe and angst!

Viktor's insistence for me to continue 'drinking' waned as he quickly became tipsy himself. He was too amused ogling at his own reflection in the shot glass to pay any attention to me.

Yuri was the only who realized that I hadn't actually been drinking, but thankfully he chose not to say anything. The punk was too preoccupied with shoving a sobbing Georgi off his shoulder. I couldn't understand much of what Georgi had been crying about, as he had slipped into a garbled tongue mixture of broken English and Russian. It was only until after Georgi left that Yuri had grudgingly explained to me that the man had just gone through a brutal breakup with his girlfriend.

Thankfully, Chris had offered to drive Georgi home. Why thankfully, may you ask? The answer is simple. By deciding to sit between Viktor and Chris, I had unwillingly volunteered to become their mutual groping toy. Avoiding Viktor's bone-splitting hugs and Chris's promiscuous pats to the butt had been quite the workout, if I do say so myself.

As of now, it was just me, Viktor, and Yuri sitting in the booth. The sun had just set, and if Viktor hadn't been holding onto my arm like a lifeline, I would have already been home by now. Yuri was slumped over on the table, his head resting in his arms, and the hood of his red sweater pulled up to hide his face. Viktor had only allowed him to drink one shot, but clearly that had been more than enough for the prickly hedgehog boy to handle. Every time that I attempted to lift Yuri's hood and check to see if he was okay, he would slap my hand away and growl in incoherent Russian. It was probably best that I didn't understand him anyway.

"Sunshinnnnnnne," Viktor whined, shaking my arm back and forth. "Let's play a game," he slurred.

I slightly tilted my head to the side, acknowledging Viktor, but still refusing to meet his eyes. Eye contact usually equated to him hugging and squeezing the life out of me. Apparently, I was 'too cute not to be hugged.'

I gulped, feeling my face flush a faint pink. I then looked under the table, spotting Makkachin's sleeping form. "W-what kind of game?" I squeaked.

Viktor tsked under his breath, reaching over to grab my chin with two fingers. He tilted my head so that I was looking directly at him. "Why do you avoid me?" he pouted, his blue eyes wide enough to match that of a toddler. "Am I not hip enough for you? Am I too old?"

"27 is not old," I rolled my eyes.

"My Sunshine is so kind to me~!" Viktor cooed.

"Viktor," I chided. "You were mentioning something about a game?"

"Oh yeah!" Viktor chuckled, dropping his hand from my face. "I forgot!"

 _Of course you did…_

"Wait! I remember now!" Viktor slapped his hand against the table, prompting Yuri to snarl something profane under the confines of his hood.

"I wanted to ask you some questions!"

"Hmmm?" I hummed. Viktor, oblivious as always, didn't pick up on my obvious disinterest in this conversation. There was nothing unique or remotely fascinating about my life, so why bother getting to know me?

At the time, I didn't realize that I had just unleashed a Blabbersaurus rex.

"I still don't know _anything_ about my Sunshine. Like where are you from? When's your birthday? What do you have a degree in? What are your hobbies? Your favourite book? Movie? Sex pos-"

"MMMPH!" Viktor cried out when I clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Okay! Okay!" I snapped. "I can't answer them all if you don't give me a chance to speak."

I could feel Viktor's lips stretch into a wide grin underneath my hand. "Go on then," Viktor smirked, his voice effectively muffled. " _Enlighten_ me with your life, Sunshine."

With a scoff, I removed my hand from Viktor's mouth. The ego on that guy!

Oh well, it was best just to answer his questions quickly and concisely. There was no need for me to elaborate. It would be inappropriate to share too much of my private life with my boss, even if he did come off as more of a friend.

"I was born and raised in Japan. Um, November 29th," I paused, deciding to rush through my next answer with a quick mumble. "I dropped out in my third year of University and never finished my Communications degree. I…"

I had to stop myself again. Viktor was looking at me expectantly, respectfully remaining silent. He genuinely looked curious, and although it made me feel cheap to lie to him, I had no real obligation to reveal to him that I used to be a figure skater.

What made everything worse was that Viktor used to help Yakov run his figure skating/ roller skating camps. He must have been a figure skater himself at one point in his life, and I had no intention of immersing myself back into that world. I had long put figure skating behind me. The wounds of my past failures were still fresh. Perhaps with time I would learn to overcome them, but right now, avoidance was my only strategy in pushing myself forward in day to day life.

"As for hobbies…I…uh…like to read."

These words felt as plastic as they had sounded.

Viktor didn't look very satisfied with my answer. In fact, his pale eyebrows were furrowed in concern for whatever reason. Looks like he wasn't as tipsy as I had originally thought. I stammered through his other questions with basic go-to answers like "The Fault in Our Stars" and "The Notebook." As you can see, I was a die hard romantic.

I opened my mouth to speak, only to falter when Viktor grabbed right my hand, clasping it between both of his. His hands enveloped mine two times over, they were just that big, and not to mention warm. "V-Viktor!" I spluttered. "What are you doing?! Yuri's still here!"

As if Yuri's presence was the real problem here. Good going anxiety, you just played yourself.

Viktor chuckled, squeezing my hand gently in reassurance. "Don't worry~! The little kitten is sound asleep."

I followed Viktor's gaze to watch a string of drool trickle out of Yuri's mouth.

Strangely and terrifyingly enough, Yuri smiled in his sleep. "Here kitty kitty kitty," he mumbled. "I must capture your cuteness for the entire world to see…"

I looked away for the sake of Yuri's dignity.

It wasn't long before Viktor's piercing gaze had captured my attention again. I swallowed heavily, feeling my entire body grow warm. It wouldn't be long before I began to fidget. I didn't like how Viktor was staring at me. I wasn't a complicated person to figure out. I wore my emotions on my face like a book. What was taking him so long? And why wasn't he saying anything?!

My face flushed again as I shed Viktor with a quirky, awkward smile. Viktor returned this gesture with a smirk of his own. "Tell me," he whispered, holding my hand up to the air as if it were an object for him to inspect. "What is a smart boy like you doing here?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. I was too shocked to remove my hand away from his. It was embarrassing how quickly I had taken comfort to his touch.

Viktor sighed. "You have a lot of potential in you but no confidence. I don't like to see people waste away when they can be doing much better off in life. Don't become a person like me and end up working a second-choice job. Find something that you truly love and chase after it."

Second-choice? I thought that Viktor loved running this café?

"That's the problem with me," I admitted. "I don't know what I like. All I know is how to avoid the things that I don't like."

 _Like myself…_

Viktor nodded his head. "You're still young and have many decisions to make. But promise me one thing, live your life how you want to live it. There's nothing wrong with starting over. In fact, I encourage you to go back to University. Do anything that keeps you from winding up working _here_ for too long."

"Viktor," my lips parted open in shock. "I don't understand. What's wrong with working here?"

"You," Viktor answered. "From the moment that I first met you, I knew that you were destined to leave. Ah! I can remember it as if it were yesterday," Viktor mused.

"That's because it was only three days ago," I deadpanned.

Ignoring my comment, Viktor continued to 'enlighten' me with his drunken philosophy.

"Your determination touches me. You work so hard, and it saddens me to know that this talent could be applied elsewhere."

I nervously rubbed a hand across the back of my neck. "I'm working things out. I don't exactly plan to stay here for _too_ long. I've considered applying again to a new program next year, actually."

Viktor winked at me, absently twirling around an empty shot glass with his free hand. "Good."

"Hey Viktor?"

"Da?"

"What would be your first-choice job? I mean, maybe I'm reading into this too much, but it seems like don't enjoy working here?"

Viktor abruptly let go of my hand. My hand dropped back into my lap like a dead weight. Viktor raked a hand through his hair, turning his head to look away from me. His jaw was tense and I almost didn't hear what he had to say next.

"We need more vodka," he mumbled.

Viktor stood up, not even bothering to look over his shoulder as he exited the booth. His hair fell over his eyes and his lips were held in a grimace. He looked tense and not like himself at all.

I held out my hand, naively believing that this would stop Viktor from walking away. "Viktor! Wait! Where are goi-!"

 **SLAM!**

The kitchen doors swung shut.

"What did I say?" I whispered to myself.

Yuri took this as his cue to conveniently wake up and berate me further.

Yuri groaned, sitting up with a yawn. There were dark bags under his eyes. "Dumb Piggie," he snapped. "Don't ever talk to Viktor about his past."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "How come?"

Yuri let out a loathsome sigh, acting as if I had just asked him to recite the entire Bible.

"When he was younger, Viktor used to be a figure skater, and a good one too. He was famous for surprising his audience with novel performances. As Viktor grew older, people were no longer surprised by his performances, and not knowing how to cope with this, he retired. He's struggled real bad with depression ever since. His only inspiration in life was based off others validating and praising his skills, so you can only imagine how disappointed he felt when he had been bested by his past self. The jackass had set his standards too high, and it ended up backfiring on him."

"How awful," I remarked, bowing my head in sympathy.

"Yeah, well, whatever. That was a long time ago, so there's no need to be a fucking baby and cry about it!"

Yuri's tantrum went right over my head.

"If I may ask, how did you guys meet?"

"Heh?" Yuri snarled. "I already told you!"

He did?! It was hard to take the punk seriously as he was always screeching at the top of his delicate lungs.

"I immigrated to America five years ago. My Grandpa was mutual friends with Yakov, and had enrolled me in both of his seasonal skating camps. Viktor has always been a role model of mine, and when I learned that he was helping Yakov coach his students, I talked the jackass into becoming my mentor. He's been giving me skating lessons ever since.

"The only problem is that he refuses to step onto the ice. When he coached, he did it from the sidelines, and now he's so unhappy with himself that he won't even go into an arena. I'm stuck with enduring these bullshit roller blading lessons until he finally learns to get his life together! This café is a distraction! Don't let his happiness fool you!"

Yuri slammed a fist against the table. "And you! Don't you even think about leaving! Viktor is a fake asshole who smiles through his pain. The old Viktor Nikivorov is dead and you are my only hope of reviving him! Why do you think he stalks you?! You're his new inspira-!"

Yuri faltered, his face flushing a bright red as let out an unceremonious hiccup.

 **THUD!**

Yuri's head fell forward as he collapsed onto the table, now unconscious. Between yelling and drinking the punk must have exerted himself too much. Makkachin, who was lying on the floor underneath the booth, jumped at the sound of this.

This was all too much for me to handle. Viktor was depressed and wanted me to leave? Yuri, who I thought hated me, wanted to me to stay? And what the heck was up with my racing heartbeat?

Whatever these feelings were, I had no intention of exploring them further. There was only one thing that I was good at in life and that was running away from my problems. And I did just that. After checking to see if Yuri was okay, I pulled out a scrap piece of paper and wrote Viktor a lame excuse to justify my leaving.

During the entire trip back to my apartment, I couldn't help but feel miserable. I was tired of feeling like I would never amount to anything. More than that, I couldn't believe that someone as happy as Viktor felt the very same way.

I hate myself for saying this, but now that I knew how much Viktor was secretly suffering, I was more drawn to him than ever before. I was the boy who had no confidence, and he was the man who had lost his confidence. Looks like we weren't so different after all.

* * *

 ***casually drops feels on you out of nowhere***

Funny to note, when Yuri says "shitty peeling donuts" I'm making a reference to Tim Hortons xD. I impatiently await the day where I buy a Boston Cream donut that doesn't have the icing stuck to the top of the tissue bag. Every Canadian suffers from this woeful predicament, I'm afraid.

Anyways, since you guys have been so awesome in showing your support, I'll make the chapters longer :) Oh yeah, keep an eye out; I'll probably be posting a Victuuri one-shot soon! Next week probably :D It's vampire-themed!

Thanks again!

-Ella


	6. Chapter 6

The past week went by normally, surprisingly enough. Viktor was still acting as 'happy' as always, which meant one of two things: he either knew that I knew that he wasn't happy, or he was too drunk to remember what he had said to me the other night. Regardless, his problems were none of my business.

Although, last weekend I did do a bit of researching on my own. That is, when Viktor returned me back to my apartment after our morning runs had finished. I didn't work on weekends, but rather than wallowing in my own self-pity, I decided to gain some perspective on him.

Turns out that Viktor used to be a famous international figure skater until he quit five years ago. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I've heard of his name before. He had been one of America's top skaters, shocking the world with his decision to retire during the prime of his career. As Yuri had said, Viktor then went on to coaching, and when that didn't satisfy his interest, he had opened up the café in the hopes of finding happiness.

It was actually touching that although Yakov coached and ran training camps at the lower levels, he still became Viktor's partner in this business venture. It just shows to you how strong a bond can be between a coach and student.

Er, well, I wasn't that close to my coach in particular. But then again, I was only skating at a national level, competing against figure skaters from other Universities. This level of competition didn't require nearly as much closeness. Besides, it's been a good two years since I've quit figure skating for good. There was no point in dwelling on it now!

 **DING!**

I snapped out of my daze, looking up to greet the new customer who had just entered the café. It only took one look for me to accept my inevitable defeat and fail to take cover under the front counter in time. Minako smirked, her grey eyes meeting my gaze in a ' _surprise motherfucka'_ glare.

Her long brown hair was tied back in its typical half-up, half-down hairstyle. She was wearing her usual brown trench coat, her long ballerina legs accentuated by her tight blue skinny jeans. Her leather ankle boots clacked against the ground, the prada purse clutched in her left hand swinging as she stalked towards her prey; aka, me.

I groaned when I realized that Minako was facetiming with someone. Knowing said lunatic fangirl, it was probably my older sister Mari. Remember when I said that Minako was my family's loyal watchdog? Well, today must have been one of those days where Minako had taken it upon herself to force me to speak with my family. That's what I get for introducing my sister to one of my only friends in America. My entire life was just a cringefest full of failures and backfired plans.

"One second," Minako beamed at her phone. "I found him!"

Minako skirted around the front counter, spotting my crouched position behind the front counter.

 **RIP!**

Minako's right eye twitched in anger, making the mole under it twitch as well. It wasn't long before I was grabbed by the back of the shirt and dragged up to a proper standing position. Minako then shoved her phone into my face, where I was met with an indifferent-looking Mari.

Minako curled her lip at me, letting me know that I wouldn't be getting out of this phone call so easily. I sighed, grabbing the phone to hold myself. "Hey Mari," I squeaked. "How have things been back home?"

Mari smiled back at me, haphazardly waving around the lit cigarette in her hand. Her brown, partially-bleached hair was held back with the purple hairband that I had given her many years back. "Eh, pretty boring if you ask me. Mom and Dad are still going strong with running the hot spring even if we hardly get customers anymore."

"Oh," I drew out a long breath. "That's too bad."

Mari shrugged. I had always admired her ability to remain so calm all the time. "There's nothing we can do. Hey, did you lose weight since the last time I spoke to you?"

Minako squealed, draping an arm over my shoulder so that Mari could see her as well. "He sure did!" she trilled. "It took a good slap to the butt to get him to realize that he was becoming morbidly obese! I've had him working out at my studio every day for the past two weeks!"

I opened my mouth in retort, only to falter when Yuri, with a dramatically predictable amount of anger, skated towards us.

"Oi!" Yuri fumed, stopping to stand at the side of the counter. "That's two strikes Piggie! No fraternizing with customers and no using your phone on shift! I'm reporting this to Viktor!"

I rolled my eyes. "That's rich coming from you," I snorted. "You stalk kitten blogs on shift all the time. And this isn't even my phone…"

"DON'T YOU GET ALL 'SIZZLY' WITH ME, BACON BOY! I'VE BEEN WORKING HERE FAR LONGER THAN YOU!"

"Uh, guys? You there?" Mari questioned, only to be ignored.

Minako unwrapped her arm from my shoulder, standing up straight so that she loomed over Yuri's fuming figure. She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow at the punk. "Who do you think you are, speaking to my friend like that?"

"Yuri Plisetsky, what a displeasure it is to meet you, scarecrow hag!"

Minako crossed her arms, grabbing the phone from my hands. "Mari, can you believe how rude this runt's being?"

"RUNT?! OH IT'S ON, GIANT LADY!"

Minako flipped the phone so that Mari had a full view of Yuri's red face and frothing mouth. "Apparently, his name's Yuri too," Minako mused.

"DAMN RIGHT IT IS!" Yuri snarled.

"Oh!" Mari gasped. "He looks just like this guy from one of my favourite bands! How cool! I'm Yuri's older sister Mari by the way."

"I don't give a damn! Just tell your brother to do his fucking job!"

"Hmmm," Mari pondered in thought, thankfully not taking any offense to Yuri's rudeness. "The same name thing is confusing! I know! I'll call you Yurio from now on!"

I cupped a hand over my mouth to stifle my laughter, whereas Minako simply burst out laughing. "Mari, you're embarrassing the poor boy," she snickered. "Although he does deserve it because he's being such a little stick in the butt."

Yuri's face flushed fifty shades of embarrassed. "F-fuck you guys. I'm out of here!"

Cue Yuri skating away. His exit would have been a lot more dramatic if he hadn't looked so graceful while doing so.

"Oh no," Mari chuckled. "Did I scare him away? I hope he's not too upset. We were only teasing."

I took back the phone from Minako. "He'll be fine," I reassured her. "Believe it or not that was actually him acting on his best behavior."

 **CRASH!**

"STUPID PIGGIE AND HIS BITCHY GIRL FRIENDS!" Yuri fumed, kicking over a chair.

Thankfully, it was still early in the morning, so there were only two customers or so in the café. They were usuals, and were therefore long used to Yurio's (pft!) temper tantrums.

"Nothing," Minako and I both smirked.

Mari scoffed, but chose not to pry further. "So, Yuuri," she started. "How have things been with you? You're like a totally different person. You're not wearing your glasses, and heck, I've never seen you smile this much, ever!"

"Rumour has it that he has a totally hot boss," Minako gushed.

Mari smiled. "Is that so?"

Mari took my blush as her answer, her lips wryly pursed in contemplation. "Speaking of which, now that you have a job, have you considered apply to University again?"

I felt my face heat up for an entirely different reason than before. "W-well…I…uh… I'm still thinking about it."

Mari was quick to read the atmosphere. "Hey, no worries," she chided. "Mom and Dad don't care about what you do so long as you do something. We'll support you with whatever you decide to do."

"Thanks, Mari," I sighed. "I really needed that."

Mari winked at me before taking another drag out of her cigarette.

"Uh-Oh," Minako groaned.

"What?" I deadpanned.

"You have that nervous ' _I'm going to run away and cry in a bathroom stall'_ look in your eyes," Minako answered me without any hesitation, her voice far more serious than before.

"N-No I don't!" I spluttered, despite already feeling fresh tears spring in my eyes.

"Uh, I think that I'll let you guys go now," Mari yawned, briefly flashing me a look of concern. "It's getting late anyways."

Minako and I said our goodbyes to Mari, the whole time of which my chest felt heavy.

I could feel Minako staring at me as I bent over to pick up a fresh apron from the laundry hamper. She knew that I was upset, but didn't say anything because we were in a public space. Just one word could very easily set me off. Damn it! Stop thinking about it! It's only going to make your eyes water even more.

The kitchen doors swung open. Chris poked his head out into the café. "Yuuri, dear, what was all that yelling from earlier?" he asked.

I stood up, fastening the new apron around my waist. I still refused to look Minako in the eyes. "I-it was just Yuri yelling at me for speaking with my friend."

Chris looked past me to spot a very flustered-looking Minako, his green eyes sparkling with intrigue. If I wasn't so upset, I would have laughed at how awkward Minako was acting. All her confidence conveniently disappeared whenever it came to interacting with attractive men.

Since Minako wasn't going to say anything, I took this moment to jump right in. "Minako, this is Chris. Chris, Minako. Now if you'll please excuse me, I have somewhere else to be!"

"Y-Yuuri?!" Minako spluttered as I shoved past her, making a sharp right to turn into the corridor leading to the, yes you guessed it, the café's washrooms. My vision blurred as I ducked my head to avoid the stare of the person who had just exited the backroom. Whoever they were, I didn't get a look at them as I rushed to push open the washroom's door.

All I wanted was to be left alone.

…

What am I doing?- I ask myself as I'm sitting on top of a toilet, clutching both hands to my face in the hopes of stopping the tears from spilling down my cheeks. I hated that I always got flustered so easily. But, could you blame a guy?

It's been two years since I've quit figure skating and left university, in my final year of all times. From then on in, I've been moving from job to job. Nothing was stable in my life. Heck, I wasn't even stable. I was an emotional wreck that let everything build up until I couldn't take it anymore and inevitably broke down.

This was one of those moments. Even though my family was more supportive than I could have ever asked for, I still felt ashamed whenever I told them that I hadn't quite figured out what I wanted to do in life. I had always thought that figure skating would be my one true path in life, but now, I had no will to guide me forward. I've searched for a new path, but everyone that I take leads to yet another dead end, and with each dead end, I slowly begin to buckle under the pressure.

I just felt so lost and overwhelmed and completely out of control. It wasn't Mari's fault that I was crying like this. Oh no, this was because of my refusal to confront my problems where they stand. Working at this café was a perfect distraction for me. The customers were nice, Viktor was nice (sometimes), and even though Yuri was mean to my face, he would always leave a container of leftover cookies in my work locker.

Viktor was right; I couldn't work at this place forever. But, oh gosh, now that I'm comfortable here it would be so much harder to leave. It's been a while since I've felt this happy. The people here care for me, even if most of their concern is brutally directed at my weight. Yeah, I still had a good amount of weight to lose…

But that's the thing. These were the first people to give me a proper slap of reality. I was self-imploding, and they were the first to recognize it. I was stressed out, and eating was my only comfort in life.

Viktor never said it, but I could tell just by the firm look in his eyes that he knew that I was always feeling down on myself. I was a pathetic; willess; unworthy of his time, and yet he still took time out of his day to motivate me into becoming a better version of myself. It was never just about my weight. My confidence had taken a fatal blow two years back, and it was only now just starting to repair itself. It's funny how Viktor can both praise and berate me in the same day. He's honest, and I have to respect him for that, no matter how much that the truth hurt me sometimes.

I squinted my eyes shut, erratically shaking my head back and forth. Why was I thinking about Viktor right now of all times? I stood up abruptly, slamming open the door of the bathroom stall. I walked over to the mirror over the sink, running the facet. I splashed water onto my face a comical amount of times to get my head out of the gutter. Seriously! Wallowing over myself _and_ my attractive boss?! This was all too much to handle!

I splashed more water under my eyes, but the puffiness refused to swell down. I sighed, realizing that I would just have to go back into the café looking like the bottom half of a baboon. I pushed open the washroom's door, only to come face to face with Viktor.

Viktor stood outside the washroom, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall outside. My mouth parted open in shock, quickly finding myself staring at how the leanness of his arm muscles showed underneath the black, long-sleeved shirt that he was wearing. Ah, so he must have been the person that I passed on my way in to the washroom.

Viktor narrowed his eyes. "You're upset," he remarked, blunt as usual.

I waved my hands about to protest to this comment of his. "N-no! No! I'm fine, really!" I laughed, despite not fooling Viktor in the slightest.

Viktor tsked under his breath. "You can't go out there like this,' He sighed.

Viktor grabbed onto my wrist, tugging me in the direction of the backroom. "Come along, Sunshine. You've brightened my day enough. Allow me to make you feel better."

"W-what?! Viktor what are you talking about?!"

Viktor simply ignored me, pulling open the door to the backroom. He led me around a stack of unopened boxes, making a sharp right. I wasn't familiar with the room, so you can only guess how surprised I was when Viktor began to escort me up a rickety metal staircase.

Okay, this was getting _really_ weird. This was the part where I got murdered, right? How cliché. Somehow I had turned into the naïve bimbo role. Just perfect!

I looked up, feeling relieved when I saw sunlight. Viktor smirked, leading me up the final stair. My feet hit the surface of a smooth, freshly-lacquered wooden floor. The room was all windows and sun, containing a few spare tables, construction tools, and the odd broom here and there.

Viktor let go of my wrist, smirking as I took a step forward on my own. "Wow," I murmured. "What do you plan to do with this?"

Viktor shrugged. "We needed more space to fit the customers. So I thought, why not add a second floor?"

I nodded my head in response. "I like it better up here. It feels a lot more open and natural."

Viktor's chest puffed up in response to the comment. "Why thank you! But hey! I'm supposed to be the one cheering you up!"

"I don't need to be cheered up," I deadpanned.

"Da, you do!" Viktor rolled his eyes. "Your face is screaming emo teenager and it bothers me."

Viktor placed both hands onto my shoulders, steering me towards a table that haphazardly had an old cloth thrown over it. "Sit here and wait. I don't like to see my employees upset."

Viktor turned on his back. "I'll be back. Maka will be here to keep you company while I'm gone."

On cue, Makkachin came scrambling up the staircase. The dog's pads slipped and slided against the wooden floor as he sprinted towards me, eventually seating himself before my feet.

"Wait!" I called out, but Viktor was already gone.

I looked down at Makkachin, resignedly reaching over to scratch at his ear. "Your owner is so weird," I mumbled under my breath.

Makkachin's jowls stretched into an eerie smile. It was creepy how much he reminded me of Viktor.

I absently pet a delighted Makkachin's head. The dog rubbed his head against my thigh, practically begging for more attention. Yup, this dog was definitely a clone of Viktor, all right.

It wasn't long before I heard the sound of Viktor's dress shoes clack against the staircase leading up to this new and mysterious second floor. A mop of grey hair emerged from the darkness below.

Viktor appeared holding two ceramic mugs in his hands. The right one had a mountain of whip cream in it, whereas the left one had none.

I furrowed my brows in confusion as Viktor seated himself across the table from me. Makkachin whined, moving over to rest his head against Viktor's thigh.

"Hush," Viktor cooed. "The vet told me not to give you any more sweets."

Makkachin grumbled up a storm, spinning around in a circle until he finally found a good position to lie down and pout.

Viktor chucked, motioning me to take a mug. I raised my hand, faltering at the last minute. "This is some sort of test, isn't it? Testing my diet?" I recoiled. Surely, he wasn't willingly giving me hot chocolate to drink?

Viktor's grin only became wider. "Nope~! You've been working really hard and I think that deserves a treat! Besides, you've already proven to me that you're capable of losing weight!"

With an emotionless expression on my face, I grabbed the mug with the mountain of whip cream, taking a small sip out of it. Viktor watched me with wide, child-like eyes. It was unnerving for me to realize that most of this happiness I was observing from him was probably faked.

"Sooooooooo?" Viktor prompted.

I resisted the temptation of licking my lips. "It's good," I smiled. "The cinnamon and chocolate meld together perfectly."

"I'm so glad~!" Viktor exclaimed. "Are you cheered up now?"

Viktor pulled out his phone, scrolling through a page on the screen. "Google says that sweet things help make people feel better. Tell me, do you feel better?"

My right eye twitched. Was he really that incompetent of comforting someone that he needed to search up instructions on the internet?!

"Not really, no," I answered, swishing around the remaining contents in my mug. I had already drunk half of it, it was just that good. Although, don't tell Viktor that. His ego was already large enough!

"Oh," Viktor pondered in thought. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to do now. I've never been good at talking to people about their feelings…"

"Um…that's alright," I started awkwardly. "I'm okay now."

Viktor slammed a fist against the table, causing me to jump a little. "My Sunshine is not okay!" he pouted. "You were crying…why is that?"

I looked down into my mug, avoiding Viktor's gaze. Although, I'm pretty sure that he was still busy searching up comforting instructions on Google. Well, it couldn't hurt to speak to somebody about this. He probably wasn't listening anyways.

"My sister called from Japan. My family wants to know if I have a plan for the future, and I always feel so ashamed whenever I tell them that I don't have anything figured out. I'm an adult, you know? I want to prove to them that I'm not incompetent and useless…that I'm not a child for them to look after anymore."

"Hmmm," Viktor used his free hand to clasp his chin with both fingers. "Interesting."

Yup, he totally wasn't listening to me.

I shook my head in disbelief, tipping the mug back to drown my sorrows with a good chug of liquid sugar.

"Perhaps you are suffering from a Freudian complex with your father?"

 **PFT!**

I spewed out my hot chocolate, hacking up a storm.

"WHAT?! NO!" I protested. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?!"

Viktor's lips stretched into an ear to ear smile, completely clueless as to what he had just alluded to. "No, but now I'm rather intrigued," he mused.

I jumped a little when Viktor leaned over the table, raising a napkin to dab at my dripping mouth and chin. I looked up to meet a pair of sharp blue orbs, the normally humorous and mirthful light in them replaced by a much more serious flare.

"You shouldn't feel disappointed in yourself for not having things figured out," Viktor tutted. "It's perfectly normal to feel lost. What really matters is that you find your eros or niche in life. Find your passion and whatever follows it next can only be good."

I blushed uncontrollably. Viktor was close enough for me to feel his breath wash against my own face. He continued to dab at the lower half of my face while I tried my outmost best to minimize how much my bottom lip trembled.

"W-what if I've already found my niche?" I asked.

God knows what I was rambling about now.

"Then you stick with it," Viktor hummed. "Don't let grander expectations get in the way of your own happiness."

Viktor lowered the napkin, setting it down on the table. Now would have been the perfect time for him to pull away…but he didn't…

Viktor raised his hand again, using two thin fingers to tilt up my chin. I've never felt so exposed and vulnerable and yet so guarded at the very same time. Confusion, that's what this weird feeling was. It had to be.

Viktor's eyes burned into mine. "Was that philosophical enough for you?"

I faintly smiled back it him. "Don't tell me you looked up that quote too?"

Viktor dropped his hand away from my face again. "No," he admitted. "But I did worry that I sounded too cheesy. Please tell me that you're feeling better now. I have no idea what else to do."

I laughed at his evident exasperation, this time more genuinely. "Yeah, I am. Thanks, big guy."

"For what?"

"For being the best google philosopher/psychiatrist that there ever was."

I didn't need Viktor's words to make me feel better. All it took was one smile for me to realize that he truly did care about me. He may not realize it, but he was much more supportive than he gave himself credit for.

 **THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!**

Now if only I could figure out why my heart was beating so wildly…

…

 **To be continued**

* * *

hello! Thanks once again! Seriously, I've never felt so inspired before. It's amazing. I just feel so happy! I might just upload two chapters on my reading break if this continues!) Let's keep it up, yeah? :*

Ease my irrational anxiety and leave a review if you can. I always worry about what you guys think :p I never know whether or not to reply to a review because it sometimes scares people away. You're always free to PM me though if you like!

Until next time!

-Ella


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Merry Valentine's Day! (Why would it be happy? still single thoughhhhhh :'''''''')

 **GuestBirdie** : Damn, is your heart okay? I keep breaking it all through out my stories xD

As **ShutupYourePerfect** has pointed out, I gotta big (hopeless) crush on this guy in my program.

 **Update (TODAY):** He held open the door for me and smiled.

 **Me:** *blushes even though she's brown* "Thank me"...(THANK ME... **THANK ME?**!)

 **My friend:** *is not subtle at all and starts cackling with laughter, the biyatch*

 **Guy** : Laughs and walks off into the sunset that is actually the bright lighting of the lecture room. (So stoic, much wow. Teach me your ways, oh great kawaii one.)

You can probably tell that I haven't got a wink of sleep. That's what midterm season does to you, unfortunately.

Thanks for reading and enjoy~!

* * *

It's been two and a half weeks since I've began working at the Devil's AdVODKate café. Between running back and forth in the café itself and my morning jogs with Viktor, I could already see a substantial decrease in my weight. Not that my weight was something to be concerned about anyways. I wasn't _that_ overweight! But, I'll admit, my hips were beginning to look like a waist floatie…

Anyways, things have been going great for me lately. I've really taken a liking to working here. Similarly, I can say the same for Viktor. That guy _really_ seemed to like me, even more so because Makkachin followed me around wherever I went. Apparently, the doge's stamp of approval was Viktor's excuse to drool and fuss over me further.

Honestly, I had no reason to be nervous around Viktor anymore. He hasn't shown any signs of sadness lately. In fact, he was smiling and laughing even more than usual, if possible. Although, he still flirted with me from time to time. I'm just going to assume that being playful was a feature forever engrained into his oversized ego.

This rationality, unfortunately, didn't stop me from blushing an embarrassing shade of red every time that I caught him staring at me. But how could I not? I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't at least physically attracted to Viktor. He was a very good-looking man; tall and fit with the most amazing set of blue eyes that I've even seen in my life.

I shook my head, clearing my mind from these irrelevant thoughts. I was at work right now; I could always fantasize about Viktor later. Ah! No! NO! NO! I didn't say that! Forget what I just said, will you?! Because I said so, that's why! Agh! Why must I always be so emotional? Seriously, you'd think that I was a hormonal pre-teen fangirl just by the prose that I use.

Little did I know that while I was having an existential crisis over how hot my boss was, I had inadvertently left the coffee machine unintended. The coffee tray began to overflow, spilling onto the white tile floors below.

"ACK!" I screamed out loud, turning on my heels to scramble over to the barista station. I grabbed a nearby rag and began to pat at the excess coffee. Because I was rushing this task, as I didn't want Yuri to catch me and cuss me out for making this very mistake again, I had burned the palms of my hands in the process.

I sighed in relief as I finished dabbing at the last of the spilled coffee. My relaxation didn't last very long as someone dinged the service bell at the front counter. Clearly, I hadn't cleaned up all the coffee, as I slipped and tripped forward, thankfully grabbing onto the counter with my palms to steady myself. May I remind you that my palms were still sore with fresh burns.

I smiled through the pain, meeting the purple eyes of the Crispino twins. They were both wearing matching black Adidas jumpsuits, presumably coming here after their own morning jog.

"Ciao, Yuuri!" Sara beamed, cocking her head to the side; her long black ponytail following suit. "How are you…er…are you okay?" she asked. "You look like you're in pain?"

"No! No!" I lied. "I'm fine! 'Just spilled some coffee. Anyways, what can I get for you guys?"

I made a point to avoid eye contact with Michele. He looked angry enough to bite a good chunk out of the front counter.

"I'll have a chocolate croissant, please," Sara trilled.

"Keh," Michele snorted. "What's the point of working out if you're just going to feed your body with that sugary garbage afterwards?"

"It's my treat of the day!" Sara sniffed, turning her small nose up to the air. "I'll eat what I want!"

"Whatever," Michele rolled his eyes. "I'll have what she's having."

I nodded my head, reaching over to pull out two to-go tissue bags. While I grabbed their treats with a metal tong, the twins predictably began to bicker with each other.

"Why do you always have to copy me?!" Sara crossed her arms.

"Because I love you!" Michele placed both hands onto Sara's shoulders. "If we get fat, we'll do it together!"

"Ugh! You're _so_ annoying," Sara whined.

"Let's just hurry up and get this over with. I don't want to run into that Czech asshat again," Michele spat.

Michele paid for their food, giving me a generous tip amounting to all but two dollars.

Just as the twins were leaving the front counter, a sunny-faced Emil popped into the café, wearing a blue tracksuit of his own. "Hey! I thought that I would find you guys here~!" he panted, sounding out of breath. "You weren't at our usual meeting place in the park?"

"We weren't there for a reason, asshole," Michele growled, protectively wrapping his arm around Sara's back.

"Really?" Emil grinned, completely oblivious as to what Michele was alluding to. "How come?"

"Because we didn't want to see you!"

 **THUD!**

Sara elbowed Michele in the stomach, causing the latter to splutter and choke. "Speak for yourself, fratello," she smiled, despite maintaining a cold look in her eyes.

Sara turned to look at Emil. "Would you like to join us for lunch, Emil?"

"I'd love to~!" Emil laughed, while Michele looked up at the ceiling and let out a string of profuse curse words in Italian.

I chuckled at the scene, faltering when I felt something warm grab my hand. It wasn't long before two blue orbs were burning holes into the side of my face. I felt my cheeks grow warm as I turned to meet Viktor's smug gaze.

"V-Viktor?!" I stammered. "W-what are you doing?" I lowered my voice into a whisper.

Viktor squeezed my hand. "Isn't it obvious?" he smirked. "I'm holding your hand~!"

"Yes, I know that!" I snapped. "But why?! There's customers here!"

My eyes widened in horror as I realized my mistake when it was already too late.

"Ah," Viktor mused. "So you're saying that if we were alone it would be okay for me to hold your hand like this?"

"T-that's not what I meant," I muttered, averting my gaze down to look at my shoes. "But…"

"But what?" Viktor asked. Geez, this guy was practically oozing smugness.

"I guess that I don't min-"

Whatever I had to say was cut off when Yuri burst out of the kitchen, carrying a silver platter stacked with baked treats over his head.

"Coming through, morons!" The punk called out, skating past us in a blur of blond hair and skinny limbs.

I jolted, pulling my hand away from Viktor's before Yuri could see what we were doing. Don't ask me why I was being so secretive. I wouldn't be able to give you a definitive answer.

When Yuri was out of sight, Viktor placed a hand onto my shoulder instead. "Yuuri," he began, his eyes twinkling with the pride gained from making me feel all flustered inside.

"Y-yes?"

"You're blushing. Why is that?"

 _Because you're an attractive man and I'm inevitably attracted to you?!_

Thankfully, my brain still had enough sense not to blurt out my deepest most desires. Agh! Not these thoughts again! Away! Away! The power of cringe compels you!

"You're really close to me right now," I answered.

Viktor took this as his cue to bend down, leaning in close enough to whisper into my ear. "Do I make you feel uncomfortable?"

"N-no!" I felt my ears redden.

"I see," Viktor hummed. "My, my, I've always found that quirk to be so attractive about you."

"W-what quirk?"

My brain was on cringe overload. I could hardly process anything that Viktor was saying.

Viktor pursed his lips together. "You don't realize how handsome you are. It's very humbling."

"Attractive?" I chuckled weakly.

Viktor rolled his eyes. "Yes, attractive."

I looked down at my body, feeling the back of my neck grow hot.

"Stop that!" Viktor chided.

I looked up to him in confusion.

"Stop," Viktor repeated. "Stop viewing yourself so negatively. Fat or thin, you'll always be a beautiful person to me. You have a fascinating sparkle in your eye that I've never seen before, but I won't get to see that sparkle if you keep feeling bad about yourself."

I deadpanned. Somehow things always went back to him. Regardless, I could still tell that Viktor was being genuine. How paradoxical that he teases me about my weight, and yet, he doesn't actually mean any of it.

I sighed. "Whatever you say, big guy. Although, I still don't know what you mean by 'sparkle'."

Viktor shrugged, removing his hand from my shoulder. "You don't have to. As long as I know what it means, that's all that matters."

My eyes twitched. Being as cryptic as ever, I see.

Viktor reached over to grab an éclair from the platter of free samples. "Open your mouth," he ordered.

My jaw practically dropped to the ground. "Excuse me?!"

"Open your mouth," Viktor repeated. He looked very annoyed at having to repeat himself so often. "I haven't gotten to feed you in a while. I adore the way that you look like a chipmunk when you eat~!"

"Uh, okay?" I opened my mouth. I wasn't about to object to free food, especially since most of my diet at home consisted of stale ramen noodles.

Viktor grinned widely, bringing the éclair to my mouth. "Your mouth is so small," he remarked. "Tsk! What a shame! That won't do you any good in bed…"

 **PFT!**

I split out the éclair, choking and blushing uncontrollably.

Viktor pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hmmmm. So he doesn't swallow either…"

"WHAT?!"

"Nothing~!"

…

 **Yuri's POV:**

Stupid Piggie! As if him working here wasn't already bad enough! Now it looked like that asshat Viktor had a crush on him too. Keh, what a shitshow this place was. I'll never understand why Viktor wasted his time here. Or Yakov for that matter too. The old fart duo probably took enjoyment in reliving their glory days. Pretty ridiculous, if you ask me.

How was I supposed to improve my skating if that fatso Jappie was always hogging Viktor's time?! Yakov was a great coach, sure, but Viktor promised to coach me himself, and damn it all if I wasn't going to hold him up to that promise.

Now if only Viktor would get his shit together and stop moping about his past _non-existent_ failures, that'd be great. Seriously, what kind of idiot retires during the prime of his career? Ugh, I can't be bothered to think about such pathetic things. Too bad I wasn't on break. I could really use a good Instagram scrolling session right about now. Photos of cute kitties were always a go-to cheerer-upper for me.

Heh?! Who said that liking cats makes me a 'frilly, girly man'?! I'm very manly, I'll have you know. So manly in fact that I'm going to pause this rant to figuratively stick up my middle finger at you. Do you sense the butthurt? Good, moving on.

Bleh. I still had customers to serve. I hated how plastic Viktor forced me to act. The man would pinch my cheeks in retaliation whenever he saw that I wasn't smiling. I hardly ever smiled, so you can only imagine how painful it was for me to force a smile for those customers whom I truly despised.

"Oh Yurrrrrrrrrrrrrri~!" an annoying, yet all too familiar voice called out to me. "We'll have another round of devilish shots!"

Speaking of a nosy bitch.

My lips and eyebrows twitched as I skated over to my least favourite customer's booth, Mila. Mila was a tall, thin woman who had no shame in wearing tight black clothing to show off her toned body. She had bright blue eyes, those of which were always smug, and short auburn hair. More reluctantly to note, however was that Mila was also a rinkmate of mine.

For those of you who are too dumb to follow along to this shitty plotline: Mila and I were both skaters training under Yakov's mediocre guidance.

Accompanying her, unsurprisingly, was a piss drunk Georgi. Said pathetic man had his head buried in his arms, hiccupping in between his sobs. He was also a student of Yakov's. Although, lately he had taken time off from training to wallow in his own self-pity. I can see why his girlfriend Anya had broken up with him in the first place. He was too dependent on what others thought of him, and now that he had no one to validate and praise him, he had fallen into a depression. Remind me to never fall in love. I refuse to become a sobbing drunk at the ripe old age of 25.

Georgi was supposed to be working the evening shift today, but judging by how incompetent he looked, I would most likely be taking on a double. And so, the crappiness of my day continues…

I skidded to a stop at the side of Mila and Georgi's booth, crossing my arms. "Mila," I said through gritted teeth. "I told you already. I'm not old enough to serve alcohol, and you're not old enough to drink any."

Mila pouted her overly glossed lips. "Come now," she whined. "Viktor doesn't mind. Besides, Georgi's already had his fair share of shots. It's my turn to have some fun~!"

"Fun…" Georgi hiccupped. "What a luxury it is to have fun. I'll never be happy again!" he wailed.

 **THUD!**

Georgi's forehead hit the table.

Now that I think of it, the fatso did mention to me that he was cutting off this table from their alcohol supply. Mila must have been sneaking shots from Georgi when he wasn't paying attention. The flush in her cheeks was evident enough of that.

I turned on my heels. "No. Go ask someone else."

Mila stood up from the booth, reaching over to grab onto my forearm. I jolted, shaking her off me.

"Unhand me, you hag!"

I glowered up at her, hating the fact that the height difference between us was enormous.

Mila pulled back, unrelenting with the pout that she knew full well _would not_ work on me.

"Oh, so I'm just a hag now?" she mused. "I thought that we were friends."

"We were never friends! Acquaintances maybe, and even then, that's being generous."

Mila laughed, ruffling my hair. "What's up with you lately? You seem much more…frustrated than usual."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I snorted.

Mila bent down, bringing her face closer to mine. I avoided looking directly at her eyes. Not that I was scared or anything! Her hagness was just contagious!

"Are you jealous?" she proposed. "Jealous that Viktor is spending time with someone else?"

Mila cast a glance at the front counter, where Viktor and Fatso were…feeding each other?! What the hell?!

"NO!" I spluttered almost immediately. "I don't give a fuck about who that jackass decides to hang out with."

Mila draped an arm over my shoulder. "The frown on your face says otherwise," she purred.

"Just shut your whore mouth, will you?" I groaned.

Mila pinched my cheek with her free hand. I had half the mind to take a bite out of it; I was just that angry. "Aw~!" she cooed. "Poor little Yuri doesn't like to be deprived of attention! Don't worry, 'Grandma' Mila is here to give a you a nice big hug."

I deadpanned. She had finally claimed the Grandma nickname for her own. Looks like I would have to come up with something far more spiteful to get her off my ass.

Mila then proceeded to squeeze my insides out with a hug. "M-Mila!" I gasped. "I can't breathe!"

Mila only let go of me when the café door chimed with the arrival of a large, rabid herd of pre-teen girls. My face paled in recognition. The fangirls were back! Fuck! Just when I thought that my day couldn't get any worse!

You see, at this café, I had somehow developed my own customer fanbase, most of whom consisted of girls ranging between 10-12 years old. They had taken my liking of cats to heart by adorning their own set of kitty headbands. Yuri's angels was what they called themselves. But if you ask me, they were more like demons. I did my best to avoid them whenever I could. However, doing so was hard when they regularly hosted fangirl meetings here.

"Where is he?!" one of their hormonal demon voices called out.

"I can smell him!"

"My tsundere detector is going through the roof!"

"Tsk! Tsk!" Mila giggled. "Soon enough they'll find you. Wherever will you hide~?"

I shrugged away from Mila, ducking my head. "Who said anything about hiding?" I growled.

Mila hummed. "Should I call them over then? Surely they must miss you!"

"NO!" I cried out, feeling my face flush. "Don't! I…I'm taking a break. Move out of the way, hag…" I stepped around Mila, only to be pulled back by the collar of my shirt.

In a blur, Mila picked me up, effortlessly slinging me over her shoulders. "What are you doing?!" I screeched.

I'll never understand how a thin girl like her could be so strong.

"Shhh," Mila hushed, smirking. "You're going to give away your location."

"PUT ME DOWN, DAMN IT!"

"Is that how you speak to your saviour?" Mila rolled her eyes. "Why, would you rather be smothered in a group hug of angsty affection?"

I fell silent, _reluctantly_ answering Mila's question.

Mila was heading for the backroom. Embarrassing as it was, I helplessly bounced up and down against her back.

 **CRASH!**

Mila ninja-kicked open the door to the backroom. I was then thrown over her shoulders, gracelessly falling onto my butt.

The last thing that I saw before the door shut was Mila's smug face. "You so owe me for this," she remarked.

"I don't owe you shit!" I shouted back, standing up to angrily pound my fists against the door.

I received no response in return, other than that of the faint sound of obnoxious giggling.

Well, looks like now would be a good time to take my break. It would be a while before those fandemons left the café anyways.

…

I ducked behind the brick wall in the alleyway adjourning the side of the café. Two metal dumpsters and several empty alcohol wooden crates were in my nearby proximity, the stench of which was nauseating.

After fuming over Mila and her bitchiness, which had taken a long time because I was still butthurt- literally- over her throwing me around like a rag doll, I had finally decided to leave out the backdoor and take a well-earned lunch break. I would avoid those fandemons at all costs.

My luck just so happened to run out when I skirted around the corner, hugging the wall and poking my head out into the open street. Ah crap! The fandemons were flocking around the front of the café, their noses tilted high in the air as they sniffed for their prey. Just so we're clear, the prey is me…morons!

I pulled up the hood of my white hoodie, hoping that this disguise would be enough to allow me to pass by without their hormonal detection. I took a step forward, only to falter when one of them cried out in excitement.

 **SNIFF!**

"Do you smell that?!"

"Yeah!" Another high-pitched voice screeched. "I smell…kawaii…with a hint of butthurt… and jealousy…?"

"He's somewhere near here! I just know it!"

The sound of footsteps clambered in my direction. Ah crap! They were coming right for me. I turned on my heels and sprinted past the pair of dumpsters, intending to enter through the backdoor of the café. I wasn't going to make it! The door was too far away! I was screwed! Dead! I was-!

"MMMPH!" I cried out when someone placed their hand over my mouth, pulling me to the side so that I was concealed behind the dumpster closest to my right.

I struggled, swore, and tried to kick at my kidnapper, but their deep voice silenced me with just one short swoop of words. "Keep it down. Unless you want them to find you, that is?"

I froze. I recognized that voice…

Out of shock, I chose not to say anything. Eventually, the voices of the fandemons faded away. They must have left to find another boy to stalk now that I wasn't fresh game for them to pounce on.

My kidnapper took this as his cue to remove his hand from my mouth. "They're gone," he remarked.

I spun around. My eyes widened when I realized that I did in fact recognize who my kidnapper was. It was Otabek Altin, the stoic and silent waiter from J-J's shitty café.

 _Him…_

Not that I cared or anything, but Otabek was also a senior at my high school. I had only been a sophomore for a month now, so he probably didn't even know who I was. Although, that still didn't explain why the hell he was lurking ominously in the middle of an empty alleyway…fucking mute weirdo, that's what he was.

Otabek was a Kazakh with solemn brown eyes and short black hair that was styled in an under cut. He was wearing a pair of baggy denim capris, black combat boots and a matching t-shirt. The piece of clothing that marked us as enemies was the horrendously ugly lavender waiter's apron that he had tied around his waist, that of which had a corny bedazzled crown icon in the center of it.

I glared up at Otabek, feeling my face grow red with anger. Otabek wasn't tall per say, but he still had a fair amount of inches on me. "What are you staring at, asshole?!" I growled. "And why the hell did you just grab me like that?!"

Otabek shrugged, looking as emotionless and deadpanned as usual. "You looked like you needed help, so I helped you."

Something told me that this guy wasn't much of a talker.

"Yes, but why did you help me?! You don't…" I paused, lowering my voice. "You don't even know me."

"Also! I don't need your help!" I fumed, piping up my voice to mask my disgruntlement.

Otabek shrugged at my last comment while I glared at the ground.

An unnerving thirty seconds passed before Otabek finally decided to answer my question. In between that time, he simply stared at me, blank-faced minus the exception of his eyes, where a small ounce of curiosity lurked.

"I do know you," Otabek answered, his lips curling into a wry, hardly visible smirk. "Your name is Yuri. You go to my school, yeah?

I felt my face grow warm.

"D-Da," I stuttered. "What about it?"

I clenched my fists in confusion. Why did I feel so uncomfortable? This guy was just weird. He stared and made eye contact for far longer than what was necessary.

Otabek sighed. "How odd. You don't seem to remember…"

"Remember what?" I snapped. "Can you stop being a vague motherfucker and just say what the fuck's on your damn mind?!"

Otabek chuckled slightly. "You haven't changed one bit. It was your eyes that always made you so memorable to me, the eyes of a soldier. I used to train under Yakov in his summer camps. I was put in with the novice skaters, and eventually dropped out when I realized that I wasn't going anywhere with it."

"You trained with Yakov?" I asked, which was more like a statement. "You're right, I don't remember you."

 _But I do know you…too well, actually._

I deadpanned. Even when I wasn't trying to, I somehow managed to be brutally honest.

Heh?! Since when did I become so soft?! Who cares about what I said or did! Every one could piss off for all I cared!

"Yeah, but that was a long time ago. I don't skate anymore. I wasn't very good; that's probably why you don't remember me."

"Well, that's a shitty attitude to have," I snorted, crossing my arms.

Otabek let out a low breath. "'Can't be helped."

"Uh…what are you doing out here anyways?" I asked, feeling awkward and clammy for whatever conveniently embarrassing reason. Was puberty finally deciding to grace me with its unwelcomed presence? Who knows.

Otabek cocked his head to the side in confusion. "I was taking out the trash," he answered, acting as if this was the most obvious answer in the world.

"O-Oh," I hummed. "Well, I should probably get back to work now…" I trailed off.

 _Lies…_

"See you at school?" I tried to cock an indifferent brow at him, but ended up miserably convulsing the left half of my face.

Otabek nodded his head. "Yeah, see you at school. You should come sit with me at lunch. I always see you sitting alone; it can't hurt to have company?"

"Um, yeah, sure, whatever! I'll do that!" I blurted out.

"Bye now." Otabek nodded his head in acknowledgement, absently placing his hands into his pockets. He casually strolled out of the alleyway, his spine tall and his shoulders broad with a careless sort of confidence.

When I was sure that he was gone, I cupped both hands to my face, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. Why was my face so warm?! Ugh! I don't understand! What was so special about Otabek that made me feel this way? He was just a guy…a guy…

A guy who I always passed by in the hallways. A guy who I had always secretly hoped would catch my eye out of pure chance. A guy who I…just came to realize that I had a hopeless and undeniable crush on.

Now I understood why I would always rush past him, biting the inside of my cheek out of nervousness. I wasn't a freshman who was scared of a senior, I was a freshman who was scared of his feelings for a senior, and right now certainly wasn't an exception to that rule.

"FUCK!" I angrily kicked at an empty wooden crate.

I didn't like how sappy this guy made me feel.

Screw him.

No, screw me…


	8. Chapter 8

"Ah!" Viktor sighed, running to a stop in front of the café. "What a refreshing run!"

I joined suit with him, bending over to catch my breath. Little trails of vapour poured out of my mouth, the frigid air of early November biting and clinging to the thin fabric of my tracksuit. The sun had risen long ago; it was probably around eleven in the morning. The café was already up and running, pun horribly intended. You see, because I didn't work on the weekends, Viktor let me sleep in a bit before we went for our runs.

I straightened my posture, my knees buckling when Viktor draped a heavy arm over my shoulders.

"Congratulations~!" Viktor beamed.

"Huh?!" I spluttered, blushing profusely. I felt the urge to cling closer to Viktor. His body heat was comforting; his muscles strong and inviting. He smelled of light sweat, a heavenly mixture with the subtle scent of his cologne. I hummed contently to myself, appreciating his close proximity.

I blinked several times, blushing even harder when I realized how I had let my thoughts get the best of me again. For the love of pork cutlet bowls! He was my boss! I shouldn't be fantasizing over him; no matter how hot he was. Agh!

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrri," Viktor whined.

"W-what?!"

Viktor poked me in the ribcage, causing me to jolt a little. I had always been a very ticklish person. "I said that you're in top shape now," Viktor rolled his eyes.

"Oh," I let out a long breath, aiming a discreet glance at my belly, which wouldn't even be considered a 'belly' anymore. My stomach was flat and toned now. After two months of working out, both day and night with the unnecessary addition of Minako's intense ballet lessons, I had finally dropped all of my excess weight.

Viktor twirled me around so that I faced him, placing both hands onto my shoulder. His blue eyes twinkled with pride, his long strands of grey hair blowing along with the cool wind. "I guess this means that we no longer have to go for morning runs now," he simpered.

I couldn't help but pick up on the slight hint of disappointment in Viktor's tone.

"Yeah," I muttered, trying not to sound too disappointed myself. "I guess so."

Viktor's eyes twinkled and watered for a different reason. He looked just like how a toddler would after being scolded for sticking their hand into the cookie jar. How the heck did he make his eyes so big?! It was beginning to creep me out.

 **SMUSH!**

Viktor pulled me into yet another one of his crushing hugs. "I'm so proud of you, my little Piggie protégé!" he exclaimed, rubbing his cheek against the top of my head. "I can only call you Sunshine from now on!"

I froze when Viktor's voice cracked.

"V-Viktor? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" Viktor dramatically sniffed, conveniently turning his head away from me. "The cold weather is just making my nose run~!"

The beep of Viktor's phone prevented me from prying further.

"Hello?" Viktor answered, brining his computer-sized phone up to his ear.

"WHAT?!" Viktor exclaimed, his pale eyebrows raising to the top of his 'allegedly' thinning hairline.

"Are you sure that you can't come in?"

"Take an aspirin then!"

"It's not my problem that you crippled your liver!"

"No, I am not being insensitive! Honest maybe…"

"Fine!" Viktor snapped. "When you grow old and lonely, don't blame me! This is why I keep telling you to date guys!"

For reasons inexplicable, Viktor aimed a glance at me.

"Call me when you decide to get your life together!" Viktor huffed, hanging up the phone.

A dark, comical cloud circled around Viktor's looming form.

I reached over to pat him on the shoulder. "Did Georgi call in hungover again?" I deadpanned.

Viktor bowed his head in mourning. "Da, he overdosed on vodka and feels."

I chuckled at this comment. "I can stay back if you need me to."

I needed the money anyways. I still haven't found a roommate to split the rent with me. I was surviving off of tips alone at this point.

"My Sunshine is so reliable and responsible~!"

I took a step back, treating Viktor as if he were a wild animal about to pounce on me.

Turns out that I was correct.

"Agh! Let me go!"

"I will hug you and squeeze you and call you piggie reborn~!"

 _*We interrupt this chapter as Yuuri has currently passed out from the sheer strength of Viktor's overbearing hug.*_

…

I sighed, bending behind the front counter to pull out a fresh uniform for me to wear. The morning was already off to a fantastic start. Yakov was yelling at Yuri for doing fancy tricks, as per usual. After placing a hiring ad onto the front counter, Viktor headed off into the kitchen, mooching off of Chris, as per usual. Thus, _as per usual,_ I was the only staff member doing anything remotely productive.

I stood up, tying a waiter's apron around my now 'fabulous' waistline. Those were Viktor's words, not mine, I'll have you know. Can't you just sense the saltiness in me?

"HI! HI! HI! I heard that you were hiring?!" A high-pitched voice rang in front of me.

Correction, a high-pitched voice assaulted my ears by coming from virtually nowhere.

I jumped back in shock, finding myself staring down at a pair of cat-like brown eyes. A short boy with tanned skin and a slender build was standing before the front counter. He was wearing a bright red hoodie, to match his two-toned red and dirty blond hair, and a tight black pair of skinny jeans. The boy was holding a crumpled resume in his hand, smiling at me with an excited expression on his face. When he smiled, a sharp canine tooth poked out from his upper lip.

"U-um, yeah," I answered, feeling unnerved by the intensity of the boy's stare. I recognized him as an occasional customer of the café. But there was something else about him that was familiar to me. I just couldn't quite figure out what it was. Perhaps I've seen him somewhere else before?

The boy grinned devilishly. "Here you go, boss!" he said, thrusting the resume into my hand.

I took the resume, placing it onto the counter. "I'm not the boss around here," I smiled back, shrugging my shoulders. "But I can get my manager for you if you'd like."

"Okay~!" the boy happily trilled.

I nodded my head in acknowledgement, walking over to poke my head into the kitchen. I left just as quickly as I had entered when I realized that Viktor and Chris were taking Instagram selfies again.

I walked back over to the front counter, shrugging my shoulders in apology. "Sorry, he's currently unavailable. But I can make sure that he receives your resume."

"Thanks!"

"Take care now," I responded back in a kind tone.

The boy's excitement dropped. "Do you really not remember me?" he moped, his eyes as wide as saucers. Sweet Jesus, I already had to deal with Viktor's puppy dog eyes as it was.

"No…" I started. "Should I?"

The boy exploded with a fire cracker of emotion. "Seriously?! It's me, Minami! Your biggest fan! I attended all of your performances back at the University!"

I drew a complete blank. "You did?" I squeaked. Now that I think of it, I did remember always seeing a bright bush of red hair in my old fan group. He must have been one of those high schoolers who was involved in the mentorship program.

"YES!" the boy, who I now knew was named Minami, choked on his spit, shocked by the fact that I didn't recognize him upon first glance. "You were my biggest idol ever! When I found you working here, I just _had_ to know why you quit! You were just _sooooo_ good!"

"Oh, well, I…" I nervously rubbed the back of my neck. "I kind of outgrew figure skating. I moved on…"

"What kind of answer is that?!" Minami shrieked, before jabbing a slender index finger in my face. "You, sir, are amazing and the entire world needs to see it!"

I shrunk away from Minami's pointed finger and sighed. "That was a long time ago."

Minami gasped dramatically. "How dare you say something like that! I look up to you! That's it; where's your boss?! I'm telling him that you quit. _Someone_ needs to talk some sense into you," he grumbled, storming about like an angry miniature bull.

Minami skirted around the front counter. I intercepted him at the side entrance, shaking my hands about frantically. "No, no! That's not necessary, really," I pleaded. "Look, there's no point in trying to convince me to skate again. I just…don't find the same enjoyment in it anymore."

Minami crossed his arms, childishly pouting his lip. "Well then! I guess that I'll just have to work here until I can finally convince you otherwise."

"You haven't even been hired yet," I mused.

"Don't you underestimate me!" Minami fumed, his face reddening.

I stood there awkwardly, immersed in an intense stare down with the impish-looking fanboy.

"You're not going to leave anytime soon, are you?" I deadpanned.

"Nope~! What can I do to help, _boss?"_ Minami smirked.

I shook my head in disbelief. "Oh fine," I relented. "I'd appreciate it if you took out the trash."

Minako flashed me with an exaggerated thumbs up. "You got it!"

"Oi!" Yuri fumed, skating over to stand at the side of the front counter. " _I'll_ be the one taking out the trash, thank you very much."

"Wow, Yurio," I remarked with a thick amount of sarcasm, making sure to use the nickname that he despised _so very_ much. "How odd it is to see you actually want to do your job. How come you're so eager to take out the trash anyways?"

Yuri's face flushed a bright pink. "N-no reason… Also, who the fuck is this brat?"

Yuri aimed a shrewd glance at Minami, who reciprocated this gesture with an equally frigid look of distaste. You could practically hear the **DING! DING! DING**! that prompted the beginning of their intense staring match.

"How dare you speak to Yuuri-senpai so rudely!" Minami growled, his chest puffing up in offence. Yuri and Minami would have been about the same height should the Russian punk not have been wearing roller skates.

"Piss off," Yuri snapped. "I don't need to deal with nosy customers like you. Either buy something or leave."

Minami cackled. "I'm not a customer though!"

"Heh?!" Yuri spluttered.

This only prompted Minami to stand even taller, or to at least present himself that way. Minami jabbed a proud thumb at his chest. "The name's Minami! Fanboy extraordinaire and now the newest server at the Devil's AdVODKAte café!"

I was too busy laughing at Yuri's twitching face to correct Minami on this.

…

Turns out, unsurprisingly, that Viktor had hired Minami on first sight. The fire-cracker boy wonder had enough spirit to quickly win over the customers' affection. He was actually much older than I had initially anticipated him to be.

Minami sure didn't look seventeen, nor did he act like it. For example, said blabbermouth had told Viktor about my past as a figure skater. Apparently, me shaking my head, turning red, and waving my hands about wasn't enough to hint for him to shut his mouth.

Regardless, Viktor wasn't surprised by this revelation at all. In fact, much to my embarrassment, he had pulled out his phone to show me a screen saver of me in my old skating costume back at the University. Creepy, right?! How much did he have to scroll back through my Instagram to find that?!

Although, even though Viktor teased me for being secretive, I did pick up on the slight amount of disappointment in his eyes. That was one thing about Viktor. If you ever wanted to know how he was truly feeling, all you had to do was ignore his smile and look up. I couldn't help but feel that Viktor had been hoping that I would tell this to him on my own…eventually.

Oh well, what's done is done, I guess. It was quite the relief to know that no one was going out of their way to remind me of my past. It seemed as if they had all expected it. As Yuri had so bluntly put it, " _You're a professionally shitty skater. We all knew that you had had to learn those moves from somewhere_."

Sigh. So much for putting my past behind me. Minami sure liked to idolize me in every shape or form for whatever reason. He followed me around like a lost puppy, clumsily dropping things as he was too busy watching me skate around the café.

When he wasn't watching me, however, he was pleasing the customers with entertaining skating choreography, which was more like a swing type of dance; much to Yakov's disgruntlement. The old man did have a heart, after all. Minami was just too naïve and innocent to be yelled at. He was making a lot of money for the café too, more importantly.

The only thing that annoyed me a bit about Minami was that he was always in my face. I liked my personal space, as you all know that I'm an anxious and easily flustered person. Whenever someone got too close to me, it was inevitable that I would snap at them. I've already snapped at Viktor before, but he has a much stronger backbone than Minami. Unsure how to handle this abundance of attention, I just ended up ignoring Minami entirely. Little did I know that this behaviour would end up backfiring on me; horribly.

I was standing at the front counter, taking a short break when Minami came skating up to me, huffing and puffing from his most recent 'performance.' "Yuuri! Yuuri! Did you see the trick that I just did?"

"Huh?" I blew a stray strand of hair out of my eyes, composing a purposefully indifferent expression on my face. Maybe then this boy would learn better and not idolize me. "What trick?"

To be fair, I hadn't actually been watching Minami.

Minami's eyes widened, his lips trembling slightly. "Y-you weren't watching me?" he asked, shyly glancing down at the ground. This was a complete shift in attitude; I had never seen him look so vulnerable and sad before.

Of course, I just had to kick the poor boy when he was down. Insecurity, you woeful ruiner of relationships; why must you make me so awful to deal with?

"Why would I be watching you? I was taking a break _from_ work," I answered plainly, despite being furious with myself on the inside.

"Oh," Minami squeaked. "I see. W-well, I should get back to work too. Sorry for bothering you…"

 _You aren't the one bothering me…_

"Whatever."

With slumped shoulders and a figurative tail resting between his legs, Minami skated towards the main dining section of the café.

I sighed, slumping my own shoulders in reciprocation. What I had just done was totally uncalled for. Viktor must have thought so too.

 **SLAM!**

Viktor slammed a kitchen apron onto the counter. "What was that?" he snapped.

I jumped a little in surprise from this unexpected action. "What was what?" I asked, turning around to face Viktor.

Viktor stood tall, his eyes narrowed as he glared down at me in disproval. I felt myself shrink under his stare. This was one of those rare times where Viktor actually expressed his anger. It just sucked that these feelings were directed at me.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about! That boy looks up to you! Do you not realize how much you just crushed his confidence? I thought that you were above acting like a self-important brat, but clearly I was wrong. As his role model, you should know better than to brush him off. Skating may have been ruined for you, but you don't have the right to ruin it for him. That boy deserves praise and encouragement; not neglect."

Everything that Viktor said was right. I bowed my head in shamed acknowledgement, feeling my eyes sting with fresh hurt. I was used to him criticizing and nit-picking at me when it came to doing my job, but this was the first time that he had actually called me out for who I was as a person. I felt terrible- matching my personality quite well, if you ask me.

"I put skating behind me a long time ago," I whispered. "It's part of my past."

Viktor crossed his arms, unsympathetic to my lame excuse. "What was your past is his future. You'd do best to remember that. I'm very disappointed in you for not recognizing something so painfully obvious."

"B-but-!" I opened my mouth in retort, only to close it when the clack of Viktor's shoes faded away. The subsequent slamming of the kitchen doors could be heard.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying but failing miserably to make sense of why I always acted so selfishly. Now Viktor knew how despicable of a person that I could be sometimes. I may have lost a lot of weight, but at the end of the day I was still the same insecure and unjustifiably spiteful person as always.

…

It was time for me to own up to my mistakes. I would put someone else ahead of myself for once. Minami, despite being sad over our earlier conversation, was still doing a great job at entertaining the customers. The boy was a natural people pleaser, but it was about damn time that someone else pleased him.

Minami was in the middle of a swing performance, using a menu as his pretend dancing partner. Sara and her group of friends, minus a disgruntled Michele, cheered the little fire-cracker wonder on.

Minami took a bow, swinging the menu behind his back.

I was the first to clap, prompting Minami to look back at me in bewilderment.

I cupped both hands over my mouth, thankfully hiding my flustered blush as I called out to him. "Well done!" I praised.

Minami cocked his head to the side, again reminding me of a confused puppy. He blinked in disorientation, unbelieving as to what he had just heard me say.

"I said well done!" I repeated, raising my voice.

Slowly, but surely, a wide, unrelenting grin spread onto Minami's face. "Yuuri-senpai finally noticed me~!"

Sara cried out when Minami fainted back into her booth, tuckered out from a probable feels overload.

I laughed at this scene, especially when Michele got jealous that Sara was holding another boy's head in her lap.

My attention shifted when Viktor wrapped his arms around my waist, bending down to whisper into my ear. "And so, my Sunshine's warm rays of kindness extends…" he chuckled too himself, being as vague and confusingly humorous as always.

I froze when Viktor lightly pecked me on the cheek. "A reward for your inspiration," he mused.

 **THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!**

Something in my heart told me that Minami wasn't the only person whom I inspired.


	9. Chapter 9

As always, I decided to get out of bed at the very last minute, which meant that I was rushing off to work; at the very last minute. I was running down the busy downtown sidewalks of Detroit, nearly slipping on the ice and falling multiple times. It snowed last night, and the warmer temperatures today had made the melted snow into a giant icing rink. You would think with my past experience in figure skating that I would be coordinated enough to navigate myself across this icy terrain. But alas, my run-down shoes were no match for this winter wonderland.

With a grand shove, and several exhales of vapour, I pushed open the door of the café, struggling, once again, to defeat the ice that was crusted along the small cracks in the frame. It took me a while before I finally opened the door; this time it was unexpected and I stumbled forward, looking like a first-class dork.

If I had been wearing my glasses, surely they would have been comically fogged up right about now. I let out a relieved sigh when the warmth of the café began to defrost my frozen and shivering body. Both my ears and face were red, my previously gelled hair hardened and almost cracking from the cold.

A chuckle to my right prompted me to follow my gaze from where it came from. I spotted Viktor sitting in a booth, his eyes twinkling enough to match the many Christmas lights that decorated the entire café. He was wearing an ugly Christmas sweater with reindeer on it, despite it being mid-November mind you, and had even dressed Maka accordingly. The doge looked very satisfied with his wooly sweater, as he was currently curled up on one side of the booth, his chin snuggled deep into his hind leg.

On the table's surface, there sat a plate with a giant stack of chocolate chip pancakes. Judging by how haphazardly they were cut, shaped, and plated, it was pretty clear that Chris hadn't made them.

"Good morning, Sunshine!" Viktor beamed, in between chewing on a giant mouthful of pancakes.

"Care to join me?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion, taking off my winter coat as I walked over to his booth. I hung over my jacket on the edge, slipping off my boots as well. "Good morning," I mumbled, still a bit perplexed as to why the café was so empty. "Where is everyone?"

Viktor set down his fork. "Oh," he hummed. "Did you not know? On snow days, we open at two."

"WHAT?! Nobody told me that!" I spluttered, immediately cupping my face with both hands. All those hours of precious sleep…lost…

"Oh, hush now," Viktor chided. "Come! Sit down! I can't eat this all on my own!"

"Alright," I consented, moving to sit on the side of the booth where Makkachin was lying down on. Said doge stretched his arms and legs, giving me a smug glare all the while. Translation: " _This side of the booth is mine. Move along, biyatch. -PS. Love youuuus."_

I sighed, whereas Viktor had already anticipated this and was already scooting over to give me more room. If I didn't know any better, I'm pretty sure that Viktor had just praised Maka in Russian. Those two were conspiring against me, obviously.

I sat next to Viktor, feeling predictably awkward. Ever since we had stopped our morning jogs -thank God too because the weather was awfully cold now-, a barrier had lifted between the both of us. We had become something more than friends.

He was still my boss, of course, but it was the small gestures here and there that made me think that Viktor wanted us to be more than friends. Now that he wasn't there to coach me, we were more on par with each other. I was too frightened to make any moves, so if anything was going to happen, it would be up to him. Something tells me that I wouldn't have to wait too long to find out.

I soon found myself facing a forkful of pancake. "Say ahhhhhh~!" Viktor cooed.

I grudgingly opened my mouth and accepted Viktor's smug offering. As I chewed on the pancake, I avoided Viktor's stare, looking down at the table instead.

I swallowed. "Do you really like Christmas that much that you have to get ready for it in November?" I asked.

Viktor shrugged, taking a bite of pancake for himself. "Christmas isn't that big of a deal back in Russia. When I moved to America as a little one, I was enthralled by the grand celebrations. Now that I'm old, I can finally choose how long I want to celebrate it. It's my favourite time of the year~!"

I raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You're not old," I deadpanned. "Let me guess. You like the holidays because of all the food."

I spluttered when Viktor snuck another forkful of pancake into my mouth. "Precisely~!" Viktor trilled while I tried my best not to choke and look like a fool in front of him. I failed…surprise….surprise…sigh…

Viktor smoothed a hand over my back, absently humming to himself. Between the both of us, it wasn't long before the stack of pancakes was finished. Although, Viktor had practically force-fed me towards the end. Quite contradictory, if you ask me. First, he wants me to lose weight and then he takes pleasure in feeding me? If he wasn't a sadist if I ever saw one!

Oh great, now what? Eating was a good preventer of small-talk, something that I was absolutely horrible at. Now I had a good three hours to spend with him before the café opened for the afternoon.

My worries over small talk disappeared when Viktor wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to his chest. I let out a small squeak, nervous, but not protesting to the warmth that his arm and chest provided me with.

Viktor smoothed back the stray strands from my forehead, lazily fluttering his eyes. "I ate too much," he simpered. "Let us relax and enjoy the pretty snowflake performance from the inside."

"O-okay," I relented.

Viktor's lips spread into a wide grin. "Do you not like me being this close to you?"

I let my silence and the furious blush on my face answer his question.

"Ah," Viktor remarked, tightening his hold around me. "I see."

Viktor tucked his chin over my head. My neck joined in on the reddening party. "You're very cute when you're flustered. Thank you for brightening my day once again," he mused.

Pale and slender fingers slid through the cracks of my short and stubby ones. "Viktor…I…" I started, only to falter when Viktor gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.

"If you're feeling uncomfortable, please do tell me."

I nodded in acknowledgement.

Viktor brought up my hand to his chest. "Can you feel my heart beat? I don't know why, but I feel at home with you. It's a very nice feeling."

 **THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!** went my own heart.

I smiled up at Viktor, allowing my head to rest against his collar bone. "I feel the same way, big guy."

"Let us figure out these feelings together, da?" Viktor proposed, bringing a hand to the back of my head.

Too bad that I had already fallen asleep at this point. Between Viktor's comforting warmth and my immense lack of sleep, I was out like a light.

…

 **Yuri's POV:**

Bleh, it was cold. Don't get me wrong, as a native-born Russian I was used to these kinds of temperatures. The only problem was that my face was now the colour of a beet, which, now that I think of it, worked as a wonderful excuse for hiding the annoying-as-fuck blush on my face.

The café didn't open for another hour, as it was snow day, so I decided to text Otabek and see if he was down to chill (literally) for a little bit. We were now sitting on the frigid metal bench outside of Jean-Jacques Jackass's café, sipping on our steaming cups of hot chocolate.

At least the snow had let up. It was beginning to become tiresome for me to always remind Otabek to speak up. He wasn't much of a talker, but his company was enough, I suppose. For the past month or so, we had spent most of our lunch breaks together at school, as well as our work breaks too.

I don't know why, but even though he hardly spoke, Otabek still managed to make me nervous. The guy just had some sort of charisma to him. The cheerleaders in our school flocked towards him like dumb moths to a flame. Fucking fake bitches, that's what they were. They would always glare whenever they spotted me standing beside Otabek's locker, acting as if his space was their territory. Who the fuck did they think they were anyways?!

What bothered me most was that Otabek always humored those harpies with that charming half-smirk of his. Did he not realize that he was encouraging their unwanted presence?! Like seriously. Why would he want to hang out with them when he could have lunch with me, watch vines and kitty videos, and simultaneously make fun of stupid people together?

Another thing that sucked royal fatso balls was that I had to keep my friendship with Otabek a secret. If Viktor found out that I had befriended an employee of the enemy, he wouldn't be very happy to say the least. Well, either that or he would tease the fuck out of me. Thankfully, when I had visited the café just now, Viktor and Fatso were fast asleep in each other's arms, not even remotely attempting to hide their flaming homosexual love for each other. Eh, at least I didn't have to worry about Viktor unnecessarily popping out of the blue anytime soon.

I grumpily sipped on my hot chocolate, hissing when the hot liquid burned my tongue. The wind blew at us, but I stubbornly kept my head tucked low so that my hair stayed in my face. The silence between us was pleasant, and we all know how godamn incompetent I am at socializing. Honestly, it's a miracle that this guy has put up with me for so long. I snapped at every small provocation; swore at him; insulted him; and yet he still stayed with me, laughing (more like chuckling) off my foul behaviour as mere 'tantrums.' Maybe the cheerleaders were right. Maybe I didn't deserve to be friends with him…

 **SQUISH!**

I jolted when I squeezed my cup of hot chocolate too hard, causing much of the liquid to spill through my wool mittens. Otabek turned his head to look at me, his pierced eyebrows raised in a questioning, and perhaps slightly amused stance.

"What are you angry about now?" Otabek asked, a wry smile playing onto his lips.

"What makes you think that I'm angry?!" I snapped, huffing and wiping my mittens onto the pantleg of my jeans. My chest puffed up in offence, matching the outwards appearance of the furry hood of my white parka. Oi! Stop smirking, stupid fangirl who is reading my crappy POV. I AM NOT A TSUNDERE, DAMNIT!

Otabek simply shook his head, letting out a puff of air in a nonchalant manner. Damn, this guy didn't even have to try to be cool; it was just who he was as a person. The stoic Kazakh was wearing a black leather jacket, with a thick grey hoodie underneath, black skinny jeans, and matching combat boots. His legs were stretched out in a casual manner, his left arm draped over the bench. Otabek tapped a gloved finger against the bench, knowing full well that his dragged-out silence would rub off on me the wrong way.

"You have more wrinkles on your face than Yakov does," Otabek replied. "When you're angry, you always get a crease right…"

I froze when Otabek swept away the bangs from my face with a gloved hand, using his index finger to poke at the space between my eyebrows. "Here," he finished.

I shoved away Otabek's hand and scowled. "Piss off," I growled. "Whether or not I have wrinkles on my face is my business, not yours! And haven't you ever heard of personal space?!"

My spiteful words went right over Otabek's head.

The Kazakh reached for my now bare hand, cupping it between his two gloved hands. "You'll catch frostbite in this weather if you don't cover yourself up properly," he fussed. "Stop being a silly immature boy and dress appropriately."

My entire face twitched. "I was wearing gloves before, you moron!"

Otabek shrugged, while I looked down at the ground, feeling my face heat up on cue.

Otabek chuckled lowly, using one hand to pick up one of my mittens. He then raised the mitten to the right side of my face, cupping my cheek. "Is your face cold too?" he teased. "Is that why it's so red? Or is it that you like spending time with me?"

"Who said that I liked spending time with you?!" I snorted.

"Well, you're still holding onto my hand. That's a pretty good sign if you ask me…"

"Heh?!" I ripped my hand out of Otabek's grip, fuming, furious, and more flustered than ever before.

Otabek smiled wider this time, showing me the top half of his blindingly white teeth. "We should go to a movie sometime, yeah?"

"Hmmph!" I crossed my arms. "Because that's fucking normal. Two 'bros' going to the movies together! Ha! What a load of bullshit."

Otabek leaned closer, his deep brown eyes somehow managing to smelt right through my defensive bout of anger. "If not 'bros', then how about as dates then?"

I coughed on my spit, hacking uncontrollably. I was prepared for him to say anything but that. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Say something, you dumb fuck. Alright, Yuri. Play it cool. The guy who you've lowkey had a crush on has just asked you out. Lights, camera…cringefest!

"Oi! Is this some kind of sick joke?"

Otabek reached over to fondly ruffle my hair. "Not at all. I thought that I've been pretty obvious in my intent from the very start of this friendship. Why else would a senior dare to be associated with a freshman? You've always been very interesting to me, Yuri Plisetsky. So, I'll repeat myself once more: will you do me the pleasure of toughing through an awful chic flick with me?"

"Well, I guess," I rolled my eyes, trying but failing to look indifferent. Words cannot describe how red my face was.

"Just don't be too disappointed when I complain about how awful and unrealistic the movie is."

"Oh, and since _you_ asked me, you'll be paying for the food," I added.

Otabek's eyes crinkled at the corners. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Stop looking so smug, asshole. I'm only coming because I don't have anything better to do. Don't flatter yourself."

Otabek raised his hands in surrender. "How cruel. I shouldn't have expected anything more from _my_ little solider," he mused to himself.

"Stoic Kazakh bastard say what?!" I spluttered.

Otabek's response was cut off short when the front door to J-J's shitty café opened, the sound of rock music pouring out into the air. A Korean boy with thick eyebrows and an unamused, moody expression on his face poked his head out into the snowy world outside. I scoffed at the tacky green and lavender waiter's apron that he had tied around his waist. The boy reciprocated my haughtiness with a cold stare, looking past me to glare at Otabek in disproval.

"Otabek," he deadpanned. "Your break ended ten minutes ago."

"It's not busy yet," Otabek slyly responded back. "There's no need for me to work right now."

"J-J wants you to help me train the new guy," The Korean boy responded back, sounding even more monotone than before. "I can always just tell him that you're not willing to work?"

And here I thought that I was an asshole.

Otabek furrowed his brows in annoyance, flippantly waving his hand at his co-worker. "Fine, I'll be there in a minute. Let me at least say goodbye first."

"Whatever."

"Hey! Seung Gil! How are you? I haven't seen you in so long~!" a familiar happy go lucky voice trilled.

I turned to spot Sara, Michele, and Emil standing across the street, making their way towards Viktor's café.

The boy, whose name that I had just learned was Seung Gil, scowled at his shoes, avoidantly dismissing Sara's acknowledgement. He sighed before stepping into the café, ignoring Michele's angry shouts that followed soon after.

"Hey! Don't you dare ignore my sister, you cocky piece of shit!" Michele roared, albeit futilely as Seung Gil was already long gone.

Otabek yawned, stretching his arms as he stood up from the bench. "I'll text you later about the details of our date. Take care, Yuri. Try not to mangle too many customers while I'm gone," he joked in his typical dry, sarcastic humour.

"Ha!" I barked. "No promises."

Otabek shook his head at me, a fond expression resting on his face. "Bye now… trooper."

"T-trooper?" I stammered.

Otabek chuckled, leaving me standing out there in the cold before I could bash his head in for calling me something so godamn degrading and patronizing.

 **THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!**

For the love of fuck, what now?!

Wasn't my embarrassment already enough? Clearly not, as my heart decided to be a petty little bitch and sucker punch me right in the feels.

Da, this was going to turn to be one hell of a shitshow, that's for sure.

* * *

 **Hey guys, sorry about the late-ish update. School's been really crazy. I can't write when I'm anxious, otherwise you'll just get a half-ass chapter from me and I don't want that. I've also been lacking in motivation, but hey, this fandom is really polite and understanding, so that's always a bonus!**

 **Anyways, next chapter entails something juicy ;) (was I the only one who cringed at the phrasing of that sentence? Jeesh!)**


	10. Chapter 10

***coughs up glitter and rainbows***

* * *

The middle of November wasn't about to let up on snowing anytime soon. A blizzard was raging, and just about anyone who was still lurking out on the streets had come inside to seek shelter and have a warm comforting mug of hot chocolate. The festivity was high and the moods were jolly as people chatted with each other, their faces red and their smiles as wide as ever.

I was having a good time serving this afternoon; with no other simple way to put it, I was drinking up the happiness of others. Even though I was shy and reserved, I still preferred to be around other people. I didn't have to talk to enjoy the presence of others. Besides, with the moods so high, I was making a ton of extra money off of tips!

The café had changed themes for this month, as green hues had been added to the venue's reddish, devilish theme. Us servers were still wearing white, however. The angel theme worked conveniently well with the Christmas holidays. The atmosphere was comfortable and pleasing, thanks to the dimmed red spotlights and the complementary Christmas lights that were hung along the windows. Overall, I felt happy, and since that didn't happen very often, I didn't bother to question it. It was best to enjoy myself before anxiety got a hold of me again and made things unnecessarily dramatic.

I looked up from the cash register when the café's front door opened, the wails of a large gale of wind echoing throughout the establishment. I cleared my throat, preparing my voice for a proper greeting. I wasn't able to see the new customer's face, as he was wearing a thick hooded grey parka that obscured it from view. Other than that, he was wearing a pair of ripped denim jeans, skater shoes, which I had to question because of the weather, and thin black gloves that were cut off at the finger tips.

Before taking down his hood, the new customer reached into his front pocket, pulling out his phone to take a photo of his surroundings. I winced at the bright flash of the camera, blinking out the spots from my eyes. When my sight cleared, a surge of excitement rose from the pit of my stomach. The customer had taken down his hood, revealing a mop of black hair that fell down to his ears, the fringe of which reached the tip of his brow bone. I recognized the familiar tan skin, sunny white smile, and kind grey eyes. It was Phichit, my old roommate/rinkmate back from my time spent in University.

Phichit looked up at the same time, a cheek-splitting smile gracing his face. "Yuuri?!" he cried out.

"Phichit!" I called back, skating around the counter to meet him. Phichit ran forward, and it wasn't long before we were both hugging each other, laughing as it had been two years since we had last seen each other. Sure, we messaged each other on occasion, but that was nothing compared to how close we used to be.

Phichit pulled away from the hug. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "You've changed so much! Yuuri, my dude! I bet that you can't keep the ladies away from you with that slicked back hairstyle! And no more glasses either, eh?"

I smirked just to humour him. "Yeah, a lot has changed with me. But how about you? How is skating going? Is Celestino being too hard on you?"

Phichit grew wary, nervously fidgeting with his fingers. "Well," he mumbled. "About that. After you quit, I did some thinking. It took me a year and a half, but I finally decided to take a break and enjoy life a little. I want to travel the world before I really think about advancing my figure skating career…"

"Oh," I hummed. "As long as you're happy, that's all that really matters."

Phichit quickly became excited again. "Ah, you've always been so understanding! I missed that about you. You should join me sometime! I mean, first I have to make money, but once I do, I'm going to snapchat my adventures. It'll be so much fun, I promise~!"

"I just might take you up on that," I smiled. It was quite the relief to know that I wasn't the only one suffering from an existential identity crisis. At least Phichit was a few years younger than me; he had a lot more time to figure out his life before he grew old enough for people to become skeptical of his faulty career plans…

"So…you work here?" Phichit asked.

"Yeah, for almost two months now," I answered, already tensing as I anticipated the question that would soon follow.

"Are you doing alright?" Phichit whispered, his grey eyes soft with concern. "Last time I heard, you weren't planning on heading back to Japan…"

Before I had dropped out of University, Phichit was the only person whom I had trusted enough to confide in. He knew how much I despised the anxiety generated from competitions and tests of any form. He also knew that it took very little to trigger these feelings in me.

Phichit shook his head and hands, hoping to steer me away from such a depressing train of thought. The fact that a storm cloud was hovering over my head didn't exactly help to prove my case otherwise. "It's fine, really! You don't have to go into too much detail if you don't want to!" Phichit blurted out, a faint embarrassed blush playing onto his cheeks.

I shrugged my shoulders, all the while screaming on the inside. I'm fine, really. Just ignore the raging pits of hell that burn me all day and night with questions that I will probably never know the answers to! Ha! Ha! Ha! I cry myself to sleep! Ha! Ha! What's that? You're drowning in uncertainty? Better go out in public and make everything worse! Ha! _Kill me_ …

"Don't worry about it. If it makes you feel any better, I don't have much of a life plan either. Speaking of which, what brings you here?"

Phichit's facial expression suddenly became guilty. "Oh, well, you see, I just got a job at the café hiring across the street from here. Part of my initiation involves me scoping out our rival…"

I smirked. "That's J-J for you. He loves to boast, but when you look at the numbers, our café still beats his by a significantly larger margin."

My chest may or may not have swelled with pride whilst saying this.

Phichit raised a brow at me. "Oh yeah?" he challenged. "I bet you anything that with my social media skills, Icing King's Donuts will become much more popular!"

I slapped Phichit's hand in acceptance. "You're on, Phicheat," I teased.

"Oi! I only looked at your test _once_! Let it go!" Phichit whined.

"Never!" I chuckled. "Hey! You still owe me for that time when I came up with a pun for your Instagram caption. I should be earning royalties on that!"

Phichit puffed up his cheeks. "Fine," he pouted. "I promise to split the earnings next time."

"Next time?!" I spluttered melodramatically. It should be noted that Phichit had enough followers on Instagram to make money off of sponsored advertisements.

We both giggled and bantered back and forth for another ten minutes or so. It was just like old times; we were good enough friends that time had absolutely no impact on how well we got along with each other.

Phichit checked his phone, groaning in dissatisfaction. "I ought to get going now. The boss is expecting a full report on my observations here."

"Annnnnnd?" I drawled.

"I'll admit, this place is…'nice'…" Phichit spoke through stubborn, puckered lips.

"Dear me, how humble of you to say! Remember not to plagiarize!"

"Oh, hush up, already!" Phichit huffed. "By the way, do you know of any places that are accepting new tenants? I'm moving out of my apartment building this week. The lease is up and I'd rather not renew it, ya feel me?"

A wide smile crept onto my face; my cheeks were beginning to get sore. Gosh, it's been a long time since I've smiled this much. "Actually, I've been looking for another roommate for months now."

"Dude, you're the best!"

I choked and spluttered as Phichit trapped me in another suffocating bear hug. "So, does this mean you'll move in with me?" I squeaked.

"Heck yaaaaaaaaas!"

I made a mental note to myself to monitor the amount of time Phichit spends on the internet.

After that, phone numbers and parting smiles were exchanged before Phichit left to finish the rest of his shift at the 'enemy' café. I hadn't realized that I was being watched until I turned around, spotting both Yuri and Viktor glaring at me from behind the front counter. Father and son moment anyone? ( _Wait, wouldn't that make me the mother?!)_

"For shame, Piggie!" Yuri fumed. "And here I thought that you were smart enough not to befriend any person that that egotistical psycho hires."

"Really now," I mused. "Because you sure do like to spend a lot of time taking out the garbage lately. Any reason for that?"

Okay, so maybe I had spotted Yuri spending time with one of J-J's servers. Yuri didn't know this, but my teasing glare was enough to warn him not to push my buttons.

"N-no! What the fuck?! Are you a stalker or something?" Yuri spluttered, his face reddening.

"Nope, just really observant," I snorted.

"Anyways, I got a shit load of customers to serve. Viktor, you deal with this dumbass." Yuri skated away from the scene much too fast for me not to become suspicious of him. There was also the fact that he had tripped over a table leg, placing his behaviour way out of character. Yuri hardly ever made a mistake or fumble whilst skating. Something, or rather, someone (pft!) must have been on his mind. Dear God, I was right. I sounded exactly like a proud shipping mother…

"Sunshine?" Viktor started in his typical lecturing voice.

"Yes," I groaned. Somehow, I had become the child now.

"Who is that boy?"

"He's an old friend from University." I responded.

Viktor's eyes darkened. "Is he your boyfriend?"

Hey kids! This is the part where I mess up _really_ badly, and just when you think that it can't get any worse, I _keep_ talking! Fun, right?!

"No, I mean! He's a boy, and my friend, so technically he's a boy friend, but not my boyfriend! Ahahahaha!" I laughed nervously for reasons inexplicable.

"Do you have feelings for him?"

I faltered under Viktor's heavy stare. "N-no?"

Viktor smiled faintly. "Good. I still don't like him though…"

"Oh, come on!" I cried out, waving my hands about as I desperately tried to erase the solemn clouds of doom that were beginning to form between us. "You're just saying that because he works at J-J's café!"

"No," Viktor interrupted harshly. "I'm saying that because he makes you smile a lot more than I do. It's annoying."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "How come you're acting so irritated?"

Viktor shrugged. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Go do your job and fake a smile for all I care."

"Viktor?!" I huffed. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is that you just spent twenty minutes not doing your job."

"Fine, then don't pay me!"

"I'm not that cruel of a man, Yuuri," Viktor drawled. "I get jealous easily, that's all."

"Oh," I faltered, blinking back tears from my eyes. "Jealous about what?"

Viktor let out a disbelieving fit of laughter, turning his back on me. "Your ignorance is both adorable and insufferably frustrating."

"At least I'm not vague!" I retorted, only to have the kitchen doors slammed right in my face.

I rolled up my sleeves, angrily gritting my teeth as I aggressively began to fold freshly washed aprons over the front counter. "What's up with him?!" I fumed, earning several concerned glares from the customers as I proceeded to slam dunk the aprons on top of each other.

…

 _A few days later_ …

Viktor: Sunshinnnnnnnnnnnnnne.

Me: Yes, Viktor?

Viktor: What are you doing?

Me: The same thing that I was doing two seconds ago when you asked me that question.

Viktor: :(

Me: Don't you pout at me like that.

Viktor: *W*

Me:…

Viktor: o_O

Me: *sigh* I'm helping Phichit move into my apartment.

Viktor: Hmmph!

Viktor: I'm bored and you're taking too long to answer my texts.

Viktor: Why must you be so cruel to me?

 _Ten minutes later…_

Viktor: Fine then! I see how it is! I hope that you and Phichit have a very nice life together.

Me: My God, you're so dramatic. He's my FRIEND.

Me: Emphasis on friend, if my use of caps lock wasn't already evident enough.

Me: You know, this is quite possibly the most bizarre employee-boss relationship that I've ever had.

Viktor: Oh? So now I'm bizarre?

Me: I'm not even going to bother answering that.

Viktor: So…how are you?

Me: Omg. I don't have time for this.

Me: I'm sorry, but I'll text you later. We still have a lot of stuff to move.

Viktor: Wait! Don't go!

Viktor: Yuuriiiiiiiii!

…

I sighed out of relief, joining Phichit on the couch to take a well-earned rest. It had taken close to six hours to move all of his stuff into the apartment. I swear, that boy had way too much junk for his own good. My back was still sore from helping the movers fit the bed into the spare bedroom. I nearly had a heart attack when those brutes had accidently scratched the wall with the bedframe. Viktor's constant texts didn't exactly help to alleviate my stress either.

I pulled out my phone, grimacing as I scrolled through the long lists of texts that Viktor had sent me over the past few hours. Lately, he's been acting very strange. He was even more clingy than usual; holding my hand, texting me whenever I wasn't on shift, and even going so far as to facetime me goodnight. This was all good and all, but normally a boss wouldn't do these sort of things with their employees…right?

I don't know! I don't know! This whole situation was just confusing. One thing for sure was that Viktor was not a big fan of Phichit. Any mention of him would cause his mood to sour for a significant period of time. Perhaps he was just jealous?- I'm pretty sure that he had already admitted that to me.

But jealous of what? It's not like Viktor and I were dating or anything. The handholding could very well be interpreted as harmless. Besides, Viktor was a very touchy person; it wasn't uncommon for him to hug and drape an arm over those whom he was close with. It would be wrong to completely assume that there were feelings between us. Maybe we were just really, really close friends? No, that doesn't seem right either. Hmmm. See? There was probably nothing for me to speculate about…

Although, there was that _one_ time when we had cuddled together in a dining booth… Ack! There goes my imagination again! I use the terminology of 'cuddling' very loosely here. In reality, I had just eaten too much, causing me to fall asleep on him. I can't exactly recall what we had said to each other before both falling asleep, but surely it couldn't have been that memorable if I don't remember any of it. It would be very foolish of me to get my hopes up anyways. Sure, Viktor was attractive, but at the end of the day his flirting most likely didn't mean anything. He was a great guy, and deserved someone far betting looking than me…

A snore to my right jolted me away from these depressing, unwelcomed thoughts. I looked over at Phichit, who was curled up on the arm of the couch, fast asleep with his phone held over his chest like the holy Bible itself. I smirked as his phone continued to beep with an endless number of Instagram notifications. Poor guy, the move must have really tuckered him out if he was neglecting to maintain his 'precious' social media empire.

I furrowed my brows, having to re-read over my texts as I had been too busy internally moping about my poor self-esteem. It took a lot of effort to stifle my initial surprise. I had to clamp a hand over my mouth in order to control my breathing. My heart, on the other hand, was an entirely different story.

 _Viktor: Helloooooooooooooooooo?_

 _Viktor: It's been three hours since you've last answered me._

 _Viktor: I'm just going to assume that you're dead._

 _Viktor: Okay, really?_

 _Viktor: Four hours and you can't even send me one text?_

 _Viktor: That's it. I'm heading over there._

 _Viktor: I won't let you die on me ;)_

 _Viktor: You can thank me now for being so caring._

 _Viktor: I'm almost there._

 _Viktor: Five minutes :D_

I was quick to type a response, my fingers moving of their own terrified accord.

 _Me: What?!_

 _Me: Why are you coming here?!_

 _Viktor: Too late!_

 _Viktor: I'm parking my car now!_

 _Viktor: See you soon~!_

I dropped my phone onto the couch, my face paling in dread. I had received that last text exactly two minutes ago. Knowing Viktor, he would never joke about visiting my apartment. Heck, back when we used to go for morning runs, he had treated this place as his second home, opening up any cabinets and drawers in sight; he had justified this as his way of satisfying his peaking curiosity about me.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no! This was just too weird and awkward for me to handle. Viktor visiting me on a Saturday night? This wasn't going to end very well for me. I could see it now. I was going to make a total fool of myself and completely weird out Viktor. I was terrible at socializing, especially when out of the workplace. What would I say? How should I act? More importantly, why the heck did he think that it was a good idea to visit me this late at night?!

I stood up from the couch, thankfully not being loud enough to wake up Phichit as I fumbled forward, clumsily tripping several times before reaching the front room. I inspected my face in the mirror by the front door, ogling at how awful I looked. Seriously, it took a lot of talent to look this cringe-worthy. I slicked back my hair with a trembling hand, smiling weakly at my pale reflection. There were dark circles under my eyes, but thankfully most of this horror was hidden by my glasses.

Giving up on my appearance, I reached over to grab the doorknob, pulling it open only to come face to face with a surprised-looking Viktor. I felt my face warm instantaneously, my eyes flicking up and down as I took in his effortlessly handsome looks. He was wearing a long black trench coat that suited his lean body type very fittingly, a gray woolen scarf, and a snazzy pair of grey dress pants. His hair was slightly ruffled, most likely wind-blown as his cheeks were still rosy from the cold. I felt the urge to sweep away the stray strands of hair resting in front of his eyes. I reached out to do this, but of course Viktor took this as his opportunity to snatch my wrist and pull me into a rib-crushing hug.

"Sunshine~!" Viktor squealed, yes squealed. I stammered and choked as Viktor 'fondly' rubbed the top of my head with his cheek. "I missed you so much!"

"I saw you at the café yesterday," I deadpanned.

Viktor ran a gloved hand through my hair while I reached back to pull the front door to my apartment shut. "One day is long enough for me. Aw~!" he cooed. "You look so cute and small in those clothes! Promise me one day that you'll wear one of my sweaters! We'd make the perfect couple, da?"

I blushed, shaking my head in disbelief. The pair of sweatpants that I was wearing had used to fit me quite snugly. Because I had lost all of my excess weight, most of my clothing was now loose on me. It's too bad too because I didn't have nearly enough money to buy myself a new wardrobe. Wait a minute…did he just say couple?!

"Couple?!" I spluttered.

Viktor pulled away from the hug. "Why not? I think that'd we'd be very cute together."

 **CLAP!**

I cupped both hands to my face, wanting nothing more than to bury myself in a hole and call it a night. So, it was basically just any other Saturday evening for me. "Viktor," I groaned. "You really need to stop joking about stuff like that. People are going to get the wrong idea."

 _More like I'm going to get the wrong idea…_

"But I'm not joking!" Viktor whined, only to falter when he saw that I wasn't having any of his ambiguity.

"Yuuri," Viktor sighed, his expression becoming more serious. "Can you take your hands off your face and look at me?"

I childishly shook my head. "You make absolutely no sense to me. At work, you're irritated and distant, but when you text me, you use smiley faces. I don't text you for a few hours and then you automatically assume that I'm dead? Also, what kind of boss texts his employee this often?!"

"But, you're not just an employee to me…" The excitement in Viktor's voice dropped considerably.

I finally dropped my hands away from my face, looking into Viktor's stern blue eyes. "I'm not?" I squeaked. Viktor took a step forward, prompting me to unconsciously take a step back. This continued until my back was pressed up against the wall of the hallway, as unbelievably cliché as this situation was turning out to be. Viktor had trapped me in place by raising his left arm and pressing his palm against the wall.

"You're the one who doesn't make any sense," Viktor mused, using one gloved finger to tilt up my chin. He brought his face closer to mine; he was close enough that I could smell the sweetness of chocolate and the slight bitterness of coffee on his breath.

"I've been very vocal about how much I adore you and yet you still haven't clued in. You're a naughty boy, Yuuri, leading me on and then ditching me for another man. It frustrates me to know that you hold other people close to you. I've always been a selfish person; I grab and take what I want and I want you. Can't you see that?"

And…cue me pretty much blanking out and saying the most stupid thing possible.

"Phichit's my friend. I already told you that. How come you care so much anyways?"

Viktor gave me a heart-wrenching smirk, his eyes clouding over with an emotion that I had never seen before. His lids were closed; his lips parted open slightly as he shifted even closer towards me, our waists only mere inches apart. I could feel my breath hitch, the flames of unrealistic desire churning in the pits of my stomach.

"I don't know how to make myself more obvious. I guess I have no choice but to seduce you now," Viktor let out a devilish chuckle, sending chills running up and down my spine. I simply stood there, frozen in place from the shock of his bold words.

Viktor pressed his nose into the crook of my neck, breathing deeply. "I don't know why, but you make me feel calm. It's almost cruel how oblivious you are. You have me completely intoxicated by the sparkle in your eye; the dimples in your cheeks when you smile; the way that your face turns so very red at the slightest provocation. You're a wonder to me, Yuuri Katsuki. You've captured my eye, and now I must keep you to myself. I won't let anyone else have you…"

I absently ran a hand over Viktor's back, earning a faint shudder from him. "I…I…" I started.

"Even now, you lead me on and give me hope," Viktor whispered into my neck. "Tell me, is this how a boss would act towards his employee? Or is this how two lovers would treat each other, ensnared in the other's arms? You would be a fool to dismiss this as something less. Don't make me beg for you; I don't know how else to make you understand how I truly feel…"

Viktor pulled back, looking down at me with a fond expression. "Can I kiss you?"

Well, that was something that I thought that I would never hear.

 **THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!**

I silently nodded my head, feeling my head pound with a new wave of euphoria. Viktor bent down, capturing my lips in a gentle kiss. A sweet, sensual moment passed as we got familiar with each other. I felt something wet run along my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth in compliance. Our tongues slipped in together, the taste of chocolate and coffee soaking up my taste buds. The kiss ended much too quickly for my liking when Viktor pulled away to bump his forehead against mine. If I wasn't so breathless, I would have sensed a slight bit of hesitation on his part.

"I didn't take you for the jealous type," I teased.

"You're not being fair," Viktor pouted. "You know full well that I'm always watching you skate around the café like a doe-eyed sexy little nymph. Don't think that I didn't see you flirting around with the customers to get bigger tips either. I'll admit, I did feel threatened when I found out that your 'bestfriend' was moving in with you. I came here to put an end to my worries, and well, it looks like I was successful~!"

Viktor and I both laughed, our breaths mingling once more. "I'm still just so surprised. I never thought that this would happen."

"Thought that what would happen?"

"That you would return my feelings," I answered, shyly averting my gaze to the ground.

Viktor squealed. I saw stars as Viktor picked me up by the waist and began to spin me around.

"Viktor! Put me down already!" I wailed, despite secretly enjoying the contact.

"You're just so cute~!" Viktor gushed. "I can't help it! I've always thought that you were handsome! Even back when you were a chubby little love muffin! And here I thought that I was oblivious and slightly egotistical! It seems that everyone in the café _but_ you were aware of my feelings for you!"

 _Or maybe I was just too self-conscious and insecure to trust my gut feelings…_ I thought to myself, but didn't dare to say.

Viktor set me back down onto my feet, a wide grin still gracing his facial features. I smoothed down the wrinkles of my shirt, taking up a new interest in inspecting the cracks in the tiled floor. The back of my neck was hot enough to boil an egg.

"Ah," he sighed. "It looks like I owe Chris fifty bucks. When you first started working at the café, he told me that you would be different…that I would grow genuine feelings for you. I didn't believe him at the time. You see, I've had many lovers in my life, all very pretty men and women at the surface level, but never have I actually cared so much about a person before. Damn, I despise how intuitive that man can be sometimes."

Viktor paused, pinching the bridge of his nose in contemplation. "This is very worrying," he murmured. "It appears that my impulsiveness has finally gotten me into trouble. I have a bad habit of tossing people aside whenever I get bored of them. Two months is typically the time when my interest wanes, and yet here we are, two months of you working at my café and I'm still intrigued."

I could hardly hear, let alone process what Viktor was saying to me as my heart decided to have a dubstep concert in the small confines of my ribcage.

"Oh," I croaked, at a complete loss for words. "That's good, I guess?"

"No, it's not good!" Viktor exclaimed in protest, the excited expression on his face still not even remotely wavering.

I jolted a little when Viktor grabbed onto both of my hands, clasping them between his gloved ones. "Tell you what! Why don't we take our time with each other? I still don't trust myself, and I really, really don't want to mess 'whatever we have together' up. It'll feel much more natural this way. I won't force anything onto you, and you likewise. Counting down the time until I break up with someone has never helped me before anyways. Let's live in the moment and do what feels right, da?"

I reached out to Viktor, finally brave enough to sweep the hair out of his face. "That sounds perfect to me," I whispered, still a bit shy in tone, however. "I'm new to this too. I've never actually been with a guy before; I've only admired them from afar."

Viktor bent down to rub noses with me. "How does it finally feel to admire a guy this close up?"

I chuckled breathlessly into his face. "Absolutely wonderful," I answered, showing my teeth in one of those rare smiles where I grinned so much that it hurt.

Viktor's blue eyes burned into mine with a gaze so kind and gentle that my heart swelled. "I think that I'm going to follow Chris' advice one last time. He says that the best relationships are those that start slow and then peak as time goes on. There are many things that we don't know about each other…so much to learn…"

Viktor suddenly became very excited again, his figurative tail wagging like crazy. I found myself ogling at his mouth. How the heck did it form such a perfect heart?! Was that even normal?! "I want to know everything about you~!" Viktor beamed.

"You've given this a lot of thought, huh?" I teased.

Viktor nodded his head. "I would have given it a lot more thought if you hadn't decided to cheat on me," he retorted with an equally sarcastic response.

"Enough with your unwarranted jealousy," I yawned. "I'm here with you now. Isn't that enough?"

Viktor's eyes twinkled. "Very much so," he answered. "Silly boy, you're yawning. Did you overexert yourself today?"

I shook my head, prompting Viktor to grab my cheeks and inspect my face further. "I'm afraid that I didn't get much sleep last night," I sighed.

Viktor pecked my nose before pulling away. "I best leave you then. I don't want you coming to work on Monday tired, after all."

"What about Sunday?"

"I repeat. You're a silly boy, Yuuri Katsuki. As if you're going to get sleep tonight knowing that the charming Viktor Nikiforov has just claimed you for his own!"

I playfully shoved Viktor in the chest, biting my lip to stifle my laughter. "Ha, ha, very funny," I tutted.

I reached over to grasp the doorknob, looking over my shoulder to smile at Viktor one last time. "I'll call you later?"

Viktor smiled with a subtle kind of shyness that I had never really seen on him before. "Of course! Um, only if you, like want to. But I know that you will because who wouldn't call me? Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Viktor coughed, looking thoroughly embarrassed with himself. In fact, if you peered closer, you would be able to see that his cheeks were tainted by a slight pinkish hue. "Good night!"

"Good night," I responded back, only to have a complete brain malfunction, forget to open the door properly, and smack my face directly into the door frame.

Let's try this again…

I twisted the doorknob, swinging open the front door successfully this time. "Good night," I repeated, trying my best to ignore Viktor's nervous chuckles.

"Sleep tight, my now skinny little piggie. Don't let your potentially seductive roommates bite!"

I rolled my eyes. "Bye now."

Viktor said something sarcastic again, but I honestly wasn't even listening to him. I closed the door, pressing my back against the door frame and cupping a hand to my mouth. I panted breathlessly, unbelieving as to what had just happened. When reality finally settled in, I began to fist pump the air, jumping up and down in excitement.

My celebration stopped when the flash of a camera brightened up the before pitch black room. Phichit stood before me, looking like a fanboy caught in the headlights with his cellphone held out in front of him.

"I'm sorry," Phichit gave me a guilty grin. "I couldn't help myself! I just ship you guys together so much! You'll thank me one day for documenting this, trust me!"

"Were you listening to our conversation this entire time?!" I roared.

"And so what if I was?" Phichit mused. "The entire world deserves to know how cute you guys are. In fact, I'll let them know right now!"

I gave Phichit a stare down, my eyes communicating the Universal message for " _don't you effing dare_."

Phichit obviously didn't get the memo; he had always been the shit-disturbing type of friend.

"Give me that phone!" I shrieked, while Phichit cackled and ran into the living room.

Phichit leapt onto the couch, holding out his phone well above my flailing arms. "Oops! Too late, I already posted it! Now, what caption should I give this photo? Love at first insult?"

Phichit furrowed his brows, muttering to himself. Losing all sense of hope, I walked over to the balcony window and began to simultaneously slam my forehead against the cool glass.

"It really is quite adorable how he calls you his little Piggie! Oi! Stop doing that, you're going to give yourself a concussion," Phichit chided.

 **BANG!**

"Why…"

 **BANG!**

"are you…"

 **BANG!**

"doing this…"

 **BANG!**

"to me…" I groaned.

Phichit smirked, cupping both hands over his mouth to tease me further. "Did you hear that world?! Yuuri and Viktor are dating! Oh~! Can I be the best man at your wedding? Pretty, pretty please?!"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" I wailed.

"We're not even official yet," I whined to no one in particular.

A loud rustling sound could be heard on the floor above us.

"I FUCKING **KNEW** IT!" Minako's muffled voice reigned from above. "JUST WAIT UNTIL MARI AND YUUKO HEAR ABOUT THIS!"

All colour drained from my face.

 **DING! DING! DING!** Imaginary warning bells rang off in my head. The fangirls are coming! The fangirls are coming! Quick! Take cover!

My heart stopped when Minako began to pound her fists (it honestly could have been her head for all I know) against the front door of my apartment.

Even worse, Phichit happily let her in… that traitor.

Cue my motionless, unresponsive body being excitedly throttled back and forth between the both of them.

…

 _Yuuri Katsuki, Age 23._

 _Cause of Death: Shipped and squeezed to death._

 _In loving memory of the little piggie~_

 _Unfortunately, you can't hear his heart beat anymore…_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Hey :)! If you haven't already, please remember to follow, favourite and review! It lets me know that I'm doing something right and helps out a ton! I wasn't kidding before when I said that it fuels my creativity and makes me update faster lol ^-^

School's ending for me in two weeks, so hopefully things can speed up! I'm super glad that you guys enjoyed last chapter! Thanks and enjoy~!

* * *

 **The following Monday:**

I had been asked to stay back and work a double today. As of now, it was ten PM, which meant that us employees were getting ready to close up for the night. I was languidly skating around, mopping the floors, while the clang of several pots and pans went off in the kitchen. There was much more space to skate around once all the chairs had been placed on top of the dining tables. The only other people currently in the café were Chris and Viktor; this would explain the crashing sounds coming from the kitchen.

Viktor was a bit of an airhead and was easily distracted by things that didn't revolve around himself. A small smirk crept onto my face; or, at least that's what I had initially thought. Turns out, that Viktor had had a crush on me along. Ever since this weekend, the 'thing' that we had going on between us had actually been confirmed. We haven't established a formal relationship per say, as Viktor wanted to take things slow, but we definitely weren't friends anymore.

Viktor acted like both a lover and a mother to me; the latter of which involved him constantly examining how many hours of sleep that I had gotten the night prior or feeding me until my waistline burst, while the former consisted of him kissing just about every inch of my face whenever people weren't looking. Yeah, as you can guess, we had both decided to keep our relationship on the down low just in case nothing came out of it in the end. I'm still quite shocked about him reciprocating my feelings, so I suppose that it was best to live things in the moment, letting our decisions unfold with time.

I jumped a little in shock when the kitchen doors slammed open. Viktor stepped out with dramatic flare, his long legs accentuated by the denim jeans that he wore. He was wearing a loose white blouse that was fully open at the collar, just to tease me perhaps. Makkachin happily along by Viktor's side, while a disgruntled Chris tailed behind the smug-looking Russian. Chris had already changed out of his work clothes and was wearing a comfy red jump suit.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Only with you do dishes take me an extra forty-five minutes to finish," he complained, although just to friendly spite Viktor.

Viktor pouted. "I like looking at myself! The pots are much bigger than my compact mirror! What can I say?"

Viktor then latched his gaze onto me, causing me to blush, look down, and pretend to fiddle with the mop in my hand. "Besides, I'm not the only one who enjoys looking at me."

My palms became sweaty. I could already feel the back of my neck begin to heat up.

Chris let out a content hum, also letting his gaze rest on me. "Well, my job here is done. The amount of sexual tension in this room is unbearable. I'll take my hint and leave, thank you very much," he drawled in a smug, knowing voice.

Viktor's eyes nervously darted back and forth, but the rest of his body language didn't lead on to this apprehension. "Chris, whatever are you talking about?" he asked, raising his voice a few octaves.

I resisted the urge to face palm. My God, was Viktor ever a terrible liar.

Chris grabbed his bag from under the front counter. "Oh Viktor, you poor, oblivious little darling. Your love for Yuuri is hopeless. You follow him around like a lost puppy all day. I called it from the very start. Don't you dare think that you can fool me into believing that you two don't hold feelings for each other. You would be insulting my instincts as a born matchmaker."

Chris winked at me as he walked towards the front door. "I expect a wedding invitation no later than two years."

Chris waved over his shoulder. "Oh, and Yuuri?" he asked in a lowered voice.

"Yes?" I just about squeaked.

Chris's green eyes narrowed in seriousness. "Treat Viktor well. He's been through a lot. If you break his heart, I won't forgive you. After all, you did take him away from me…"

I robotically nodded my head up and down. "U-uh…yeah! I will!"

Chris's expression softened, raising his hand to blow an air kiss at both Viktor and I. "Adieu, my two little love birds! I promise not to tell another soul about your 'mysterious' love affair," he winked.

Viktor stumbled forward. "Chris, wait!" he exclaimed, but Chris had already left the café, his muffled snickers blowing away in the wind outside.

It wasn't long before two strong arms were wrapped around my waist. Viktor pressed his chin over my shoulder, the warmth of his body seeping into my back. "What did Chris say to you?" he asked.

I faltered. I had always suspected that Chris had feelings for Viktor, but had never dared to say anything about it. Something told me that not even Victor was aware of this. Perhaps it was just best to play things off as if they had never happened.

I titled my head to the side, pressing my right cheek against Viktor's. "Just to treat you well," I hummed. Well, at least I wasn't lying. It was more like I was telling half of the truth.

Makkachin made a small yipping sound, rubbing his snout against my pant leg. The bells on the doge's Christmas-collar jingled as he continued to beg for more attention.

I reached out my hand, scratching Makkachin's ears while Victor continued to do some whining of his own. "That's not everything that he said," Viktor protested. "I know Chris better than you do."

I rolled my eyes. "I told you already. That's all that he said."

Viktor turned his head, blowing some air into my already red left ear. "You're not fun when you're dishonest with me, Sunshine," he chuckled. "You always turn red whenever you're lying. Let's change that, da?"

"Change what?" I spluttered when Viktor released his arms from my waist, grabbing my right hand instead. I looked down at the ground, taking comfort in how big and comfortably warm his grip was.

"We're going to talk more about our lives, and open up our hearts to each other, of course~!" Viktor trilled. "According to , honest and forthright communication with your partner strengthens your bond with them."

"Wow, what a credible source," I deadpanned.

As usual, my sarcasm went right over Viktor's head. "I know, right? This is all so exciting~! I've never actually taken the time to learn so much about another person before. We can tell each other _everything_!"

Viktor began to lead me towards the back room with Makkachin yipping and whining for more affection on our heels. When we reached the foot of the staircase leading up to the second - still unfinished - floor, Viktor let go of my hand and gestured me forward. "La-, ah, ahem," Viktor cleared his throat to correct himself. "Cute Japanese boy toys first."

I raised a skeptical brow at Viktor. "Oh, so now I'm just a boy toy?" I huffed, placing both hands on my hips in an unexpected burst of confidence.

Viktor's cheeks flushed a faint pink. "I only wanted to play things safe," he trailed off, looking at the ground shyly, the previous excitement in his eyes deflating. I felt like I had just kicked a puppy in the stomach; that's just how bad he was making me feel.

"Whatever," I smirked. "You're forgiven so long as you promise not to refer to me as that ever again."

"Deal!" Viktor trilled.

With that done and said, I walked up the staircase, seating myself at the only furnished table that the second floor had. Viktor had just turned on the lights, except this time, it wasn't the typical fluorescent panels that lit up the room, but rather, it was the many Christmas lights and wires that hugged the rims of the ceiling and large glass window. The scene and dim lighting was breathtaking in contrast with the light snowfall outside that peppered the wider downtown area.

Makkachin came scrambling across the smooth wooden floor, seating himself at my feet. I absently pet the doge while Viktor went back downstairs to grab us our hot chocolates. Even before we had started 'dating' it had become a tradition of ours to occupy the second floor and have chats of all sorts. Although, this would be the first time where a romantic element would be added into the mix.

It wasn't long before Viktor came back with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, placing them on the table. I grabbed my mug, taking a small sip from it. I gave Viktor a quizzical look when he pulled out a small, black comb from his front jean pocket.

Viktor's sharp blue eyes twinkled mischievously. "I've wanted to comb through your hair all day," he admitted. "The unevenness of its parting bothers me very much."

I let out a loathsome sigh when Viktor gestured for me to kneel on the ground before his chair. "Why do I put up with you again?" I muttered, despite doing what he wished.

"It's because I'm dazzling and handsome. Now hush, if you keep frowning like that, you're going to get wrinkles," Viktor chided.

I sat on the ground before him, my legs stretched out straight. Viktor kneeled forward, grabbing a good part of my bangs to comb through. Makkachin decided to settle himself by lying on his stomach flat across my legs. The doge growled lowly until I relented and began to scratch his ears again; tsk, he was just like his owner: needy and bossy.

"So, Yuuri, what is it that you want to know about me?" Viktor asked. "By now you must already know that I used to be a figure skater, just like yourself. Unfortunately, the employees here like to talk a lot. I'm hoping that I'll be able to tell most of my life story to you myself."

I closed my eyes, feeling increasingly relaxed by the gentle movements of Viktor's hands. "Yes, I was told that, but they didn't elaborate all that much. Why don't you tell me how you moved here from Russia?"

"Hmmm. That's a fairly easy question that will require a very long response. Let's see…" Viktor pursed his lips in concentration, taking a deep breath.

"When I was sixteen, I had heard of this fantastic Russian coach who immigrated to America. Yakov was well-known for training Russian-American figure skaters. My parents didn't really understand why I was so fascinated by figure skating, but they still supported me nonetheless. The fact that Yakov was from Russia comforted them a lot.

"Yakov took me under his wing and trained me into becoming one of the world's greatest stars in the figure skating world. Year after year, I won medals, and cups of all sorts, but the routine became boring after a while. The world expected something grand and fantastic from me with every new performance, and this eventually took its toll on me. I had reached a plateau; nothing I did surprised the audience or judges anymore. I would always get high scores, but I couldn't help but feel that I had disappointed my fans by not surprising them enough.

"Even then, I was my biggest critic. The pressure that I placed on myself became toxic, and I no longer received joy from figure skating. I was so focused on trying to be extraordinary and revolutionary, that I had lost the fundamental enjoyment that figure skating used to bring to me. Seven years ago, I quit at the age of 20, shocking the world with such a 'bold' decision. I was at the peak of my career, and yet, I was nowhere near my peak emotionally wise.

"I wanted to do something different. I had always loved everything to do with food, so I decided to take a chance and open up a café. I wanted to make people happy and surprise them in a new type of way with bold, exciting flavours. Yakov was kind enough to stick with me through this endeavor; he's like a second father to me. I then contacted Chris, who, ironically enough, had retired just after me.

"Chris was a friendly rival of mine, who didn't see the point in skating without having me to compete against. I've never really understood his motivation for quitting alongside me, but I can't complain since he's the only one who can cook and bake between the two of us.

"And well, here we are now. Yakov has to travel on occasion, as he still coaches on the side. Most of his skaters live here in Detroit. You've even met some of them, such as Mila and Georgi. Oh! I forgot about poor little Yurio again, didn't I? Said kitty is preparing to make his grand debut in the senior division next year. Exciting, is it not?"

I hummed a faint yes.

Viktor let out a relieved sigh. "Ah, I feel much better now. I'm sorry if I sound depressing. I'm not used to talking to people so openly like this…"

I turned around, craning my neck to look up at Viktor. "Don't be. All that matters is that you're happy now. Um, you are happy, right?" I asked warily.

Viktor shrugged, grabbing another chunk of my hair. "I suppose you could say that I'm happy. Although, it's hard to judge satisfaction after you've grown past your greatest high. At least I still retain some competition in my life. J-J can be so silly sometimes! The boy actually thinks that his business will outshine mine one day, ha! I say let him try! He won't be very successful, that's for sure."

The uncomfortable churning in my stomach settled. It was nice to hear Viktor joke again, especially since he had just revealed so much personal information to me. It's funny, because now that I think of it, I had in fact heard of him before. I had just got into figure skating by the time that he had quit. Hence, why the judges had nicknamed me as a late bloomer. Although, I'm pretty sure that Viktor's hair had been much longer back then…

"How did your guys' rivalry originate anyways?" I asked.

Viktor chuckled. "J-J's parents used to be very famous figure skaters themselves. He was their rebellious son who had opted to play professional hockey instead. Unfortunately, just when he had been drafted into the NHL, he got injured and hasn't been able to play since. I find it very convenient that his parents chose _this_ location for him to open up his restaurant. The Leroy's used to be fierce rivals of Yakov and his wife in paired skating, after all."

"I see," I said.

I then turned around again to press a hand against Viktor's thigh, looking up at him through lidded eyes. "Thank you for being so honest with me. You didn't have to do that. I really appreciate it."

Viktor set down the comb, grabbing my hand so that he could press a kiss against the back of it. "The pleasure's all mine. Now, if you would please reciprocate and tell me a little bit more about yourself, that'd make me really happy."

I shook my head in disbelief. "I already told you all about my life."

Viktor grabbed my chin, his blue eyes burning into mine with an intensity that I had never seen in him before. "Tell me again then."

"Whatever you say, big guy," I tutted. "My life isn't nearly as interesting as yours, though. Basically, I came here to America for my post-secondary studies, leaving my family in Japan behind. I was studying Communications, and had joined the figure skating team there. The scouts believed that I had potential, but I always failed to execute this potential in my performances. The coach at the University urged for me to work harder, and so I did. He then became my coach outside of school, and I qualified for the nationals here. The pressure got to me, and I flopped miserably. I still haven't been able to recover from the trauma of this embarrassment. I soon afterwards quit figure skating, but when my grades declined, I dropped out of school as well. It's a shame, because I only had a year left to complete my degree. Now I work here, which I must say, is turning out to be better and better by the day."

Viktor stared at me silently.

I swallowed nervously. "V-Viktor. Are you-?!"

 **OOMPH!**

I began to choke when Viktor bent down and pulled me into a tight bear hug. He began to rub his cheek against the top of my head. "Oh, you poor little thing. You're just so angsty! Here, let my affection allow you to feel better."

"Ack! At least let me breathe!" I protested.

Viktor only proceeded to squeeze me harder. Makkachin stood up with an old man grumble, no longer able to stay asleep on my legs as I was too busy squirming.

"I can't! You're just too adorable," Viktor cooed, bending over to press a kiss onto my forehead. I froze, nervously falling against the back of his chair. "Ah," he mused. "All it takes is one kiss for me to calm you down. This quirk of yours will prove to be very useful…"

I bent back my own head, looking up at Viktor's upside down face. "I don't care for that devious tone, Mister!"

Viktor burst out laughing. "I'm sorry!"

He clearly wasn't sorry. "I just can't take you seriously when your face is that red!"

"S-shut up…" I stammered.

This comment went ignored.

Viktor puckered his lips, a faint smirk creeping onto his face. "Is this the part where we succumb to our desires, discard our past depressions, and engage in a steamy hot make-out session?" he questioned with a sly crinkle of the eyes.

My entire body became red upon hearing this question.

 **THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!**

"I'm going to take your hot and bothered facial expression as a yes."

Viktor pressed his lips against mine in a upside down kiss, gently grabbing the right side of my face. I savoured the sweet chocolate taste on his tongue, softly inhaling in content. This moment was all too precious. It was the simple things that really got to me. Viktor sure as hell wasn't a simple person, but his actions definitely spoke much louder than his words.

We were learning more about ourselves by learning about the other.

What's more, I was learning to enjoy myself again.

…

 **Yuri's POV:**

So far so good, I told myself as I sat down at an empty table by the movie theatre's food court. My Grandpa had dropped me off at the theatre close to half an hour ago. He could tell just by how weird I had been acting that I did not in fact want to go see a movie on my own. But, as I was still trying to figure out what the actual fuck my feelings towards this date was, I evaded all of his questions.

Regardless, my Grandpa already knew that I was attracted to people regardless of their gender. Even if he found out that I was on a date with a boy, he wouldn't have cared. God damn, I loved that old man so fucking much. I shook my head in disgust. Perhaps this date was making me a little _too_ soft.

The only problem now was me getting over my shyness and trying my best to ignore the stares of random strangers. Otabek had just left to get us food from the concession stand, but five minutes of us mildly flirting was enough to garner the attention of most people. Whatever. It's not like I wasn't used to being stared at all day anyways. At least my fangirls weren't here to spy on me and shed glitter all over my shitty parade.

Earlier today, I had led them on a false Instagram scavenger hunt. In other words, I had taken photos at pretty much every location in the city BUT the movie theatre. This way, I wouldn't have to worry about them finding out about Otabek and I. The last thing that I needed right now was for a horde of jealous preteens to trample my crush to death. Yes, bitch. We've already been over this. I like Otabek.

Because I'm so very generous, I'm going to pause my POV for a brief moment; the stream of precarious liquids bursting out of every orifice in your face is somewhat concerning. All better now? Good, ahem, not that I actually cared or anything.

Anyways, I was a nervous wreck right now. I was tapping my feet, shuffling, and fidgeting around with my seat as I waited for Otabek to get back with our food. The stoic bastard had already bought both of our tickets. To this, I had responded by bitch-slapping a wad of my own money into his hand; he wouldn't be paying for everything, that's for sure…even if he had initially promised to buy our food…

I let my hair fall into my face, taking comfort in the fact that the beet-red blush on my face was well- hidden. I had actually combed through my hair today, which was a miracle in itself. I felt like I had to compete with Otabek as he had always been a good dresser. In the end, I simply wore the clothes that made me feel most comfortable. I was wearing a grey hoodie with a graphic black and white tiger icon on it, and black skinny jeans. I had left my coat in my Grandpa's truck, as I had no intention of sporting a lifeboat-look on our date.

The screech of a chair skidding against the floor caused me to look up. Otabek raised a brow at me, setting down a bag of popcorn onto the table before sitting down himself. I ducked my head, already feeling a sea of blood rush up to my face. It was infuriating to me how casually handsome he was. He always acted so calm in front of me, whereas I turned into a gibbering mess whenever I had to speak to him.

The stoic attractive douche was wearing a tight black leather jacket, an equally as tight grey t-shirt underneath, loose-ripped denim jeans that were folded at the bottom, and faded-black combat boots. Otabek smirked to himself, leaning over to place his elbows onto the table. Two gloved hands with exposed finger tips were used to cup the Kazakh's smug face.

"You nervous about something?" Otabek asked.

"Nervous?!" I spluttered. "Why would I be nervous?!"

I grabbed enough popcorn to feed all of China and stuffed the buttery mass into my mouth.

I banged a fist against the table in irritation. Otabek was still looking at me.

"Wot?!" I mumbled, my mouth still full with food.

Otabek grabbed a napkin, raising it to wipe at the butter that was now dribbling down my chin. I was absolutely mortified.

"H-hey!" I protested. "I can do that myself, you know! Stop fucking babying me! You always do this and I hate it!"

Otabek backed off with the napkin, raising one hand in defeat. "I surrender, I surrender. Remind me again why I put up with you and your sass?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because I'm your 'adorable little soldier'," I answered.

Otabek smiled, which was more like a faint curl of the lips. "Ah, that's right. I remember now."

Another awkward moment of silence passed between us. We still had a good half hour before the movie started. And we all know how atrocious my socialization skills were. Not to mention the fact that Otabek wasn't that much of a talker himself. God, am I ever dumb. Why did I agree to this date again?

Otabek clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Don't rip off my head, but usually people wait until the movie starts before they eat," he remarked.

I retaliated against this comment by grabbing the popcorn bag and tipping the rest of its diabetic contents down my throat. "Oh," I mused. "Look at all the fucks I give."

Otabek shook his head in disbelief, but was already long used to my rudeness to take offense to it.

Otabek leaned forward. "There's butter in your hair," he observed.

The shock generated from this realization caused me to cough up a popcorn kernel. Otabek sighed, standing up to pat my back as I hacked out the rest of my lungs. "What am I going to do with you?" he deadpanned.

"Beats me," I stammered. "You're the one who asked me out on this 'date'."

My eyes widened when Otabek gently grabbed my hair, pulling it back from my face. "While that's true, no one forced you to say yes," he retorted.

"W-whatever! What are y-you doing anyways?!" I exclaimed.

"I'm tying your hair into a French braid," Otabek answered, shrugging as this was the most obvious response in the world.

"Why?!"

"So you won't get butter in your hair. Also, you have a pretty face. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy looking at it."

I was too shell-shocked to respond to Otabek. His honesty would surely be the cringe-induced death of me.

"Do you have something to tie this with?" Otabek asked as he began to tie the ends of my braid.

"D-da," I pulled off a hair elastic from my wrist and reached behind to hand it over to Otabek.

Once he had finished tying my hair, Otabek grabbed my hand, helping me up from the table. "Lead the way, soldier. I'm not very familiar with this theatre."

I scoffed under my breath, only to growl when Otabek cupped both hands over my cheeks.

I glared at him, wavering slightly at the warm look in his brown eyes.

Otabek cupped my face tighter, making me look like a murderous chipmunk. "So red and squishy," he hummed, chuckling lightly under his breath.

I swatted at Otabek's hands, successfully freeing myself from his subtly patronizing tyranny. "Fuck off!" I roared. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you _not_ to coddle me!"

"But it's so much fun," Otabek smirked, reaching over to fondly ruffle my hair. Luckily this time, I was able to duck out of his asshole reach.

"Screw this!" I screeched. "Find your way to the theater on your own!"

I stomped forward, gritting my teeth. _I would not look back at that douche. I would not look back at that douche._

"Yuri…"

Fuck, I looked back.

Otabek was holding onto the empty popcorn bag with one hand, while the other one was held out, practically beckoning for me grab it.

"WHAT?!"

"My hand's getting lonely. Won't you keep it company?"

"NO! AND WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SMIRKING ABOUT NOW!?"

Otabek erupted into a fit of quiet laughter, raising a fist to his mouth. "Nothing, you just have a funny way of expressing your feelings, that's all."

The blush was strong with me. "Hmmph!" I scowled, crossing my arms.

"Could you stop being an angsty little boy and come back to me now?" Otabek just about whined. Except when he whined, he only looked mildly inconvenienced at best. It had taken me a long time to pick up on his own weird display of emotions.

"Fine," I grumbled under my breath.

I bit the inside of my cheek as I walked back over to Otabek.

It was the only way to suppress the smile begging to reveal itself on my face.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Hey folks! Agh! I'm sorry for the late update. Crap, now I don't even know if I still have readers in this fandom. Short story short, I finished my second year of Uni, and because of my good grades, my Mom signed me up for a bunch of writing competitions. Surprise! (I'm 19, why you gotta be so patronizing mother? But thank you ^.^). Yup, that's where all my time has been devoted to. I didn't have any pre-written chapters, welp. I'm also writing my own book this summer, but hey! Let's focus on _this_ story. It hasn't gone MIA just yet!

Thanks a bunch to those who have supported this fic. And to the anon who asked, glitter and rainbows tastes like maple syrup mixed with bacon. Hmmm. I may or may not have just had breakfast. Feel free to pester me into updating faster (some of you have already done so on PM lmao). I have many ongoing writing projects and I have the attention span of an ADHD fruitfly on copious amounts of caffeine. I really would like to get back into a regular schedule...

Anyways, enjoy the chapter and have a great day/ night (or don't...I can't tell thou what to do) :)

* * *

I wasn't having a good day today. Sometimes, your anxiety just has a field day and decides to make everything harder for you. I felt like I was drowning, despite the smile that I had to force on my face in front of customers. I wanted to be alone, to have some space to breathe. Unfortunately, business was booming at the café, especially since it was the middle of December. People came from all over to taste Viktor's specialty daily flavors, while others just wanted an excuse to get drunk in the middle of the afternoon. Heck, I had served 40 vodka hot chocolates in a little over an hour!

Another thing about anxiety is that it's irrational. Your worst critic is yourself. You feel like you're failing everyone, but your anxiousness amplifies it to the point where you doubt yourself and just want to give up. I say 'sorry' to overcompensate for my lack of self-esteem. You would think that losing weight would make me feel better about myself, – which it shouldn't, just to be clear- but I've always looked at my faults from an inwards perspective.

I was awkward; forgetful; selfish at times; liked my privacy to the point where I isolated myself; I never kept in touch with those close to me unless they were the ones to reach out first; I had very little friends, and for a good reason; I lacked confidence in myself and my abilities; I snapped at people when they got too close…need I go on?

The holidays are inevitably going to be a stressful time. For myself, it's because my family expects me to come home. Every year, I've managed to come up with a lame excuse of why I had to stay here in Detroit. Sooner or later, the excuses were going to run out. Not to mention that even though I now had someone to spend the holidays with, my family didn't even know about him. It's not like I was afraid to tell them about my love life. It's just, the thought of calling them terrified me. I was always hyperaware of every possible chance of rejection in my life. What would they say when they found out that I wasn't planning on going back to University just yet? Or that I was 'dating' a man? It was these 'what ifs' that made me avoid them almost entirely. Texting was easier; I'm sure that they would understand. At least I hope?

Skating around the café with so many thoughts running through my mind could only end in disaster. Yuri and I were the only servers today, as we hadn't been expecting such a rush this early in the afternoon. I had a headache, and was running a low fever when I had come into work today. Of course, I didn't tell Viktor about the fever, otherwise I would have been lying in bed at home. I needed this money to pay the rent, even if I had Phichit to share the bills with now.

I had hardly seen Viktor all day because of how busy the café was. My mind was a jumbled mess. Orders went in one ear and out the other. I was having a hard time keeping up with my bill pad, flipping back and forth frantically to remember who ordered what. The worst was when people kept adding to their orders. I tended to black out when I became nervous and anxious, and it was really starting to show with how many orders I've gotten wrong.

I skated back to the front counter, my heart hammering. The sounds of laughter and glasses clinking against each other blurred in the background. The café looked beautiful with all the Christmas lights hung up on the windows; they complemented the devil-red venue of the place. As people became more drunk, however, red was something that I hoped to avoid. Tipsy customers were easily agitated, especially when service was slow. I've already cut off several people; a red face was the tell-tale sign to ease them off from any further alcohol.

I had just put my hands on the front counter, hoping to catch my breath, when Yakov snapped at me from the other end of the room. "Yuuri! This is no time to be a lazy slug! Get those orders out before I start taking from your tips! We can't afford useless employees."

I wiped off the sweat from my brow. "Yes, sir! Sorry about that!" I squeaked, swallowing heavily. Yakov was also more stressed than usual. Apparently, his ex-wife was visiting from Russia; she was to begin training Yuri for the following figure skating season in preparation for his senior début. Unfortunately, this meant that the old man's stress was projected onto us employees, and boy was he ever nasty when he wanted to be.

My face felt warm, and my ears buzzed. I was dissociating due to the stress, but there wasn't much that I could do about it. I felt numb, as if I was floating and nothing was real. This might have explained why I didn't see Yuri coming out of the kitchen until the very last-minute.

"Watch it, pork chops!" Yuri growled, swerving out of the way with a platter of sandwiches in his right hand. "Table 3-6 are still waiting for their alcohol orders!"

"Christ! I'm sorry!" I apologized. "I totally forgot." I had nearly double the customers as Yuri, since he was too young to serve alcohol. It made everything much more complicated, as we had to split the charges into separate alcohol and food bills.

Yuri rolled his eyes before skating off in a rush. "Keh, of course you did. Dumb Piggie," he muttered.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to no one in particular.

I numbly skated into the kitchen, grabbing the next three orders that Chris had already plated for me. I then hurried off towards Sara's table, thankful that they were one of the few customers who had the decency to be polite and patient- save for Michele.

"Chocolate Cranberry Cake, and Espresso Shots?" I reaffirmed.

Sara shook her head, giving me a pitiful glance. "We ordered the Caramel Toffee Cake with white hot chocolates," she answered.

"Oh," I blushed. "I'm s-sorry, I'll be right back with your _actual_ order."

Emil waved his hand. "Don't worry, it's fine, bro!" he smiled. "We all love chocolate cake too, isn't that right Michele?" he asked, turning to a sour-looking Michele.

"Si, but that's not what we ordered," Michele snapped, crossing his arms.

"Quit being so rude, Mickey," Leo sighed. "Can't you see that it's crazy busy in here? Give him a break."

"Yeah," Guang Hong added. "Chocolate cake was my first choice anyways."

Under the pressure of Sara's glare, and Emil's unwanted arm, Michele caved. "Fine," he assented. "We'll have what you brought us instead."

"No really, it's fine!" I croaked.

"Yuuri," Sara reached over to touch my forearm. "It's all right. Go finish up with the rest of your orders. Hey, if you're fast enough, we might even save you a piece," she winked.

"T-thank you," I stammered, smiling at the group before skating away. When I turned my back to them, I caved, feeling ashamed all over again. I was grateful that they had taken pity on me, but was equally embarrassed by how badly I was doing my job.

 **YIP!**

Makkachin whined when I skated over the tip of his tail. "Gosh! Makka, I'm so sorry!" I wailed. The doge stood up and trotted away, tail hidden between his legs. Great. Could this shift get any worse?

I spoke too soon.

I jumped when Yuri slapped me on the shoulder. "Where are those orders I asked you to get?" he yelled, standing on his tippy toes to press his face near mine. "Are you a fucking amnesiac or something?!"

"No, I-I…" I faltered, choking on the large amount of spittle forming in my mouth. I couldn't swallow down or suppress my nerves anymore; it was beginning to become too much.

Yuri's expression softened. "Jesus, fuck. Relax. I'll get the alcohol for you, just don't tell anyone my age if they ask," he grunted, skating past me towards the bar station.

"Hey, Piggie?" Yuri asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry for…yelling at you. It wasn't very cool of me. Let's just work through this together, da?"

I nodded my head and mustered a weak smile. "Okay."

"And one more thing," Yuri blushed slightly. "Try not to be too hard on yourself. We're all making mistakes. It's bound to happen to everyone."

"Thanks, Yuri," I murmured, genuinely touched by his words.

"Heh?! I'm not looking for your angsty gratitude! Just do your fucking job and get on with it already!"

"Yes, boss," I giggled breathlessly as Yuri skated/ twitched away.

This small bubble of happiness broke when I realized that I had two other messed up orders to correct.

I skated into the kitchen again, avoiding Chris's concerned look. Viktor was helping him out in the kitchen by doing the dishes. Mostly, Viktor was taste tasting, but he's the boss, so there was no point in calling him out for his silliness.

"What's going on, dear?" Chris asked me, putting down his rolling-pin. "Your face is unusually red."

"Oh, well, um," I looked down at the ground. "I got another two orders wrong."

Chris groaned.

"I'm sorry!" I cried out. "Christ, I'm sorry! Listen, you can take them out of my paycheck! I accept full responsibility!"

Viktor put down the platter he was washing, grabbing a washcloth to dry his hands with. "Yuuri?" he questioned. "Sunshine? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" I blurted out, blushing furiously. I wasn't sure if was from the overexertion, my fever, my feelings for Viktor, or a combination of all three.

"No worries, darling," Chris chided, despite looking stressed himself. "Just calm down. You're making my blood pressure rise just by looking at the nervous state you're in. We'll fix the orders; it's not that big of a deal."

I let myself breathe, feeling much of the weight on my shoulders disappear. The employees here were surprisingly understanding; it was like we were a small, close-knit family. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

"Apologize one more time, and I just might get diabetes from that helpless look on your face," Chris chuckled, going back to the pastry he was working on. "Mon dieu, Yuuri. Look at all these health problems you're causing me!"

I chuckled weakly, rubbing a hand against the back of my neck.

Viktor walked up to me, placing a hand on my forehead. "Aha!" he exclaimed. "I knew you looked pale this morning. You have a fever, don't you?"

"Maybe a small one," I murmured meekly, speaking through pursed lips.

Viktor raked his hand through my hair. "Tsk! Tsk! I'm taking you back to my apartment. I have just the thing to cure you."

"What?! No! I can't just leave Yurio on his own?!" I protested.

Viktor pecked my forehead, causing it to burn much warmer than before. "I called in Minami. He was more than happy to take his 'senpai's' place."

"Wait, so you've been planning this from the start?" I grumbled into Viktor's chest, refusing to look up at him.

"Da, obviously," Viktor sassed, wrapping his arms around my waist. Chris let out an appreciative whistle in the background, making me blush even harder. "Now grab your coat."

"W-wait," I stuttered. "We're going to your apartment?"

"Mhmmm. Why, does my Sunshine not like that idea?" Viktor pouted.

I fidgeted with my hands. "No, no it's fine, I guess. I just feel bad for being so useless here today."

Viktor cupped my face with both hands, his blue eyes kind with affection. "We're leaving in five minutes. That's not me ordering you as your boyfriend. I'm your boss right now and I can't let my minions, ahem, employees work themselves to illness."

I felt my heart skip a beat. "Did you just call me…your boyfriend?"

 _It took him three weeks…_

Chris squealed; I thanked every God imaginable that Minako wasn't here to witness this.

It was now Viktor's turn to blush.

I'm pretty sure that I saw Chris pull out his phone to snapchat a picture of Viktor's flustered expression.

"Da, I suppose I just did. I better act like it then, huh?" Viktor mused.

I gave Viktor a questioning look.

"Viktor?!"

My confusion didn't last long. Viktor hoisted me up by the waist and threw me over his shoulders. "Take a gander at this beautiful specimen, for he shall never be seen again. Well, until tomorrow anyways…"

Viktor pushed open the kitchen doors, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm off to my castle to heal his ill thoughts!"

Chris waved us off. "You two are literally the cutest thing ever. Makes me wonder if I should be urging my boyfriend to do dorky things like this."

I pounded a weak fist against a cackling Viktor's back. "You can put me down now. My dignity has suffered enough today, don't you think?"

Viktor pouted but did as I asked.

The pout on his face didn't go away until I relented and let him hold my hand.

…

As opposed to driving to Viktor's apartment, like any sensible people would, Viktor wanted us to take a walk. He lived downtown in a rich sector not too far from the café, but it was beyond freezing out, and any amount of time spent outside was already too much. Usually, Viktor picked me up in the mornings and we carpooled to work together; he refused to let me take any form of public transportation, even if it meant him waking up earlier and going out of his way to give me a lift. He really was changing before my eyes. The old Viktor I knew -if I even truly knew him back then- would have made a grand spectacle about doing favours for me, expecting something in return. Now, Viktor did things for me without my asking, and myself likewise. All my time spent with him was pleasant.

The walk to his apartment took me back to when we used to go for morning runs. It was nice, holding hands with him. We didn't have to speak much, as being with each other was more than enough. It wasn't long before we entered his fancy condo building, taking the elevator all the way up to the penthouse at the top.

Viktor swung open his apartment door, gesturing for me to enter first. I scoffed when he gave me a small bow as well, his grey scarf nearly touching the floor. "Boyfriends first," he sang, grinning as if he was beginning to appreciate the title he had given to me the more he said it.

"Wow," was all I could say as I entered the spacious flat. It was my first time coming here. Most of our time together was either spent at the café or back at my apartment. We've always talked about me coming here, but work always seemed to get in the way.

Viktor smirked, pleased at my dumbfounded reaction. Makkachin nudged my knee cap with his snout before scrambling inside to appreciate the warmth of the cozy space.

It was two stories tall with several wide windows. The tall curtains were drawn open to let the late afternoon light pour through. I could see the downtown area being peppered with snowfall, the rooftops of the buildings appearing flat and inferior from the height we were located at. There was a kitchen and island bar to the right with fancy leather stools and every kitchen appliance that you could think of. I had to scoff at this, knowing how Viktor didn't care to cook outside of the café. The living room was at the center of the room, which entailed a ring of black leather couches, a flat screen TV and a sleek glass coffee table. At the left of the living room, there was a metal spiral staircase that led to the second floor. I was in complete awe at how nice, and yet homey this apartment felt. It smelled exactly like Viktor; a sweet scent that wasn't too strong, but you knew that it was there to comfort you.

I let Viktor take my coat and scarf off. As he hung them up on a nearby coat rack, I shuffled out of my shoes and stepped into the living room. The simple pair of jeans and cotton long-sleeved shirt that I was wearing made me feel cheap in comparison. Everything that Viktor owned was elegant and tasteful.

"So," I sighed. "What's your master plan? How are you going to 'heal' me from this fever?"

Viktor squeezed my shoulders, walking past me and into the kitchen. "It wasn't your fever that I was worried about most. I could tell you were feeling anxious and thought that you needed some time to get away from it all."

Viktor stepped back to press his hand against my forehead. "In fact, your fever's already gone down. The walk outside must have helped. Please make yourself at home in the living rom. I'll be right back with some warm drinks."

I blushed slightly when Viktor pecked my cheek.

I then trudged into the living room, joining Makkachin on the couch. Said doge barked, nudging the wool blanket hanging over the couch with his snout. I took the hint and wrapped the blanket around my torso, letting Makkachin rest his head on my lap. I absently scratched his ears until Viktor came back with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate.

Viktor sat down on the couch, lifting the blanket so that we were both covered. He let my head rest against his chest. We slowly sipped our drinks; I held his hand, while he had his right arm wrapped around me. A good amount of time passed before he finally broke our silence.

"What's been bothering my Sunshine today?" he asked. "How can I help?"

I felt my stomach churn uncomfortably. What did I ever do to deserve him? Here I was, letting him baby and pamper me, and yet I still couldn't bring myself to believe that he truly wanted me. I couldn't help but feel insecure.

 _Weak **and** Useless…_

"I'm just anxious," I whispered. "There's nothing much you can do about it."

Viktor sighed. "Yuuri, please speak to me. I've sweetened you with treats, so why won't you open up to me?" he just about whined.

Deep down behind the egotism of that statement, I knew that Viktor was worried about me.

"Well," I hummed, taking a shaky breath. "The holidays are always stressful... My family wants me to visit, but I don't think I can bring myself to face them until I figure out what I want to do with my life. But sometimes, I'm just…I'm anxious and I don't know why."

Viktor nodded his head. "I'm sure your family will understand. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure how to make you feel better. What do you usually do when you're feeling anxious? More importantly, what can I do?"

I chuckled weakly. "You're doing everything right, big guy. My anxiety almost never has a good reason. All I need is someone to be there for me; no questions; little talking; just presence. I can't prevent my mood on some days, but that doesn't mean I don't have my good days either. Today's a bad day, and I just have to deal with it."

"Okay," Viktor murmured. "Then let's just sleep this bad day off. We'll deal with it together."

"Excuse me?" I asked, nearly choking on my hot chocolate.

Viktor took both of our hot chocolates and placed them on the coffee table. "Are you so overwhelmed by my casual handsomeness that you've gone deaf?" he grinned. "We're taking a nap. Being in the grasp of my wonderful arms, you'll be better in no time."

"And what about you?" I rolled my eyes. "How will you feel better? Oh, don't give me that look. I can see that you're worried about me."

Viktor shrugged. "I feel happy by making others happy. It's quite simple, really."

"That's a bit concerning," I mumbled, yawning. The sound of Makkachin's snores were putting me to sleep. "We'll talk about this later. I still haven't recovered from that fever yet. Besides, this couch is _devilishly_ comfy," I teased.

Viktor pulled up the blanket over our shoulders, smirking. "Agreed."

…

I woke up with a start. Somehow a nap had turned into a full fourteen hours. My face burned with an intense blush as I realized the repercussions of my accidental sleepover. Oh God! How lame was it that I had slept over at Viktor's and we didn't even do _anything_?! I mean, it's not like I've ever done 'things' with a guy before, but with a stud like Viktor, surely he had expected more? Agh! My entire life was just _so_ PG 13. It was almost pathetic. No, it _was_ pathetic.

Makkachin whined, shuffling off my lap and settling down at my side. Using my newfound freedom, I reached over and grabbed my phone from the coffee table. I was quick to throw my phone away when I saw what Phichit had texted me:

 _So, you're sleeping over at Viktor's now, huh?_

 _You sly pork cutlet, why didn't you tell me?!_

 _Be safe_ _! I have a morning shift tomorrow but I want to hear EVERYTHING when I get back._

 _That is, if you even decide to come home…_

 _Muahahahaha!_

I scowled, standing up from the couch. Now I wasn't so sure if I even wanted to go home. Besides, it was Saturday; I didn't have work and the day was still young. But first, I had to get over the awkwardness of what had happened yesterday.

A crackle and sizzle off in the kitchen made me turn my head. Once I had spotted him, I couldn't look away. Viktor was wearing nothing but a pair of grey boxers and a pink cooking apron- which looked completely masculine on him; uh, not that people in a same-sex relationship had to conform to heteronormative standards! Viktor sure looked handsome, that's all. His skin was pale, and his muscles were lean; I was practically drooling at the sight of him.

And then those smirking blue eyes caught my gaze and I couldn't have been more flustered.

"Good morning, Sunshine~!" Viktor smiled. "What would you like for breakfast this morning?"

I could already smell French toast, bacon, pancakes and eggs. Looks like he was going for a traditional American breakfast. Not that you see me complaining! When he wasn't working at the café, all Viktor liked to do was lounge around and scroll through his social media. It was a miracle that he had even gotten up this early to do a favor for someone other than himself. The thought of this made me smile; he really _did_ care about _me._

 _But why?_

I cautiously padded into the kitchen, my feet bare and cold against the marble tiling. The counter held several plates of food. Viktor was still working on the bacon, eggs, and French toast, while a stack of pancakes was laying off to the side on the island's tabletop.

Viktor gave me a wry glance. I couldn't look him in the eyes; my feet were apparently far more interesting to gaze at. "I'm, uh…sorry for troubling you last night," I whispered.

"And this morning. I was hoping that our first sleepover would have been a bit more…special…" I trailed off.

Viktor chuckled. "Silly, Yuuri. Special for me is spending time with you. Now come closer, I can feel your ogling eyes burning holes into my gloriously toned test," he teased.

I took a few hesitant steps forward.

"Come on," Viktor chided. "You know you want to touch it."

"Shut up," I blushed.

Viktor grabbed my hand, raising it to his chest. I inhaled sharply when I felt my fingers press against the tough sinew of his pectoral muscles. I swallowed, knowing that I was still in the process of toning my own muscles.

"So?" Viktor asked, batting his lashes. "How was it? Are you…feeling better from yesterday?"

I hid a wince. "Yeah, actually," I smiled, a genuine one too. "I'm a lot better now, thank you. I'll probably call my sister later today and let her know what's happening."

"Oh, and your chest is indeed glorious," I muttered through pursed lips, causing Viktor to give me a naughty look.

"You're too kind." Viktor kissed my forehead before using a fork to lift a strip of bacon from a pan on the oven top. "Lean bacon, for my now lean, Piggie," he mused.

I rolled my eyes, unamused by his joke, but still ate the bacon anyways. "Meanie," I scoffed.

Viktor bent down to bump noses before spinning me around and pressing me against the counter. I dug both palms into the edge of the counter, accidentally shoving Viktor's phone backwards.

I looked up at Viktor through lidded eyes, hoping that he would take the hint. Clearly he did, because the wolfish smirk on his face was soon replaced with want. He leant over to kiss me, running his tongue along my bottom lip. I opened my lip in compliance, letting him enter without much protest.

I ran my hand through Viktor's soft muss of gray hair, humming in content. "I'm feeling better," I murmured against his mouth. "But how about you? How have you been doing lately. I can't help but feel that this relationship is only about me."

I pulled away, pressing my lips against Viktor's throat.

"Forget about me," Viktor growled, grabbing my chin and tilting it up so he could capture my lips again. "I'm fine. I'm more worried about you."

An uncomfortable pang of guilt formed in my stomach. I decided to change the topic, but I still wanted to focus on him and him alone. He deserved to be pampered too. "You know, we never really did get to celebrate our birthdays," I chastised.

It had been too early in our relationship to do anything special for our birthdays. Even Christmas, which was only a few weeks away, would seem a bit odd to celebrate with him. We were still very early in our relationship, after all.

Viktor sighed. "Why would I want to celebrate getting old?"

"28 isn't old," I deadpanned, letting my head fall against his chest.

"Perhaps, but there's no point in celebrating when Christmas is around the corner~! And weren't you the one who told me not to bother getting you any presents?"

I looked up at Viktor, focusing on him in contemplation. The happy façade that he was putting on wasn't fooling me. Like Yuri had told me before, Viktor wasn't as content as he led others to think. I was beginning to believe this more and more. Any time I attempted to learn more about him, he responded by asking more questions about myself. There was one instance where he had truly opened up to me, and even then, we had only treaded upon shallow waters.

"Fine," I relented. "And don't put words in my mouth! I said not to spend _too_ much money on me. You can just combine my Christmas and Birthday present into one."

Viktor pouted. "Sorry for wanting to spoil you…"

"There will be no spoiling of any kind unless it's mutual," I scolded.

" _HELLO?!"_ an angry voice echoed, coming from Viktor's cellphone on the counter. " _ARE YOU GUYS DONE MAKING OUT? WHY THE FUCK DID YOU EVEN CALL ME? ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME DEAF OR SOMETHING_?"

I cupped a hand over my mouth and giggled. "Oops. Looks like I must have hit the speaker button by accident."

Viktor laughed, grabbing the cellphone. "Language, kitten!" he reproached.

While Viktor failed to calm down a furious Yurio, I watched silently, analyzing him; looking for any faults and cracks in his demeanor.

I concluded that he was acting strange. There was something that Viktor was either hiding, afraid of, or didn't want to talk me about.

And as his boyfriend, it was my job to find out what that was.


End file.
